Bengaluru: In an important development, a key suspect in the Ankit Sharma murder case and suspended Aam Admi Party leader Tahir Hussain was arrested by Delhi Police.

An eight-day long chase ended when Hussain surrendered after the court dismissed his anticipatory bail plea. The arrest and subsequent questioning of Hussain will reveal details regarding the IB staffer, Ankit Sharma’s murder.

Confronting with evidence:

Post the arrest, Hussain was taken to the headquarters of the Special Investigation Team, probing the Delhi riots. Hussain will be videographed during his questioning and he would be confronted with evidence.

An SIT source tells MyNation that they have ample evidence against Hussain. “We have videos of the violence from his house. The presence of petrol bombs, empty bottles, sticks and other material collected by us forms the evidence against Hussain. He has been denying the allegations, but it appears that he is concealing facts”, the SIT officer said. “Hussain before his surrender had said that he is ready to undergo a narco-analysis test. We have not taken any call on that and will decide soon”, the SIT official cited above added.

The Intelligence assessment:

The murder of Sharma will not be taken lightly by the system. An Intelligence Bureau assessment of the murder says that the killing was a targeted one. There were others around Ankit that day, but he was isolated and killed. While looking at the sequence of events, it becomes clear that he was targeted specifically. The manner in which he was killed only shows the brutality involved and this has led us to believe that it was a specified hit, the assessment also revealed. Moreover, the assessment also reveals that the killing of the IB staffer was not a result of mob violence, but a planned and highly motivated one, the assessment further stated.
 
The motive:

It may be recalled that we had reported on February 28 that the killing of Sharma was an attempt by the Islamic radicals to send out a scary message to the system.

Also read: In Ankit Sharma’s murder during Delhi riots, radicals sought to send scary message to the system

The SIT says that they are looking into the motive behind the killing. The SIT agrees with the IB assessment that this was a case of targeted killing. Whether Sharma was digging out details on the illegal Bangladeshis is also a subject matter to be probed. However, prima facie, we believe that this was done to send out a message to the system and instil fear within the establishment. The brutality of the crime is also being assessed by the SIT. The post-mortem reveals that he was stabbed multiple times. He was isolated, abused and then stabbed multiple times before his body was disposed of in a drain, the SIT has learnt.

In the family:

While Tahir Hussain is a prime accused in the murder and riots, reports suggest that his brother is also under the scanner of the investigating agencies. Shah Alam, who is Hussain’s brother has been missing ever since his name cropped up in the case relating to the Chand Bagh violence in Delhi last month.

The police say that Alam was present in the building in Chand Bagh where the violence took place. The police came to the conclusion after several witnesses named Alam. Police are on the lookout for Alam and say that they would need to question him to ascertain his role in the violence. Once nabbed, he would be brought face to face with Hussain, who also faces charges in similar cases, the police said.