Delhi Riots: High Court Issues Notice On Bail Plea Filed By Man Who Spent Over 600 Days In Custody In Ankit Sharma Murder Case

The Delhi High Court has issued notice on a plea filed by an accused namely Shoaib Alam, who has spent over 600 days in judicial custody, in connection with the Ankit Sharma murder case that occurred during the North East Delhi riots.

Justice Subramonium Prasad, who sought response of the State in the bail plea, posted the matter for further hearing on November 23.

The plea has been filed through Advocates Tara Narula, Tamanna Pankaj, Aparajita Sinha and S Debabrata Reddy.

Shoaib Alam, who is in judicial custody since March 9, 2020, was denied regular bail by a Sessions Court in August 2020. Thereafter, his second bail plea was rejected by the Sessions Court in May this year.

Alam seeks bail in FIR 65/2020 registered at Dayalpur Police Station relating to an incident dated 25.02.2020.

The complainant's son Ankit Sharma, an Officer working with the Intelligence Bureau, left his house at around 5 pm on the said date for buying groceries and general household items. However, he did not return home even after several hours.

Later, his dead body was found lying in a drain near Chand Bagh Pulia. He had sustained sharp injuries on his head, face, chest, back and on his waist.

Thereafter, an FIR was registered by the complainant stating that he had strong suspicion that his son was killed by the main accused Tahir Hussain and his associates.

The post-mortem report of the deceased Ankit Sharma revealed that there were 51 injuries caused due to sharp edged weapons and blunt force.

According to the bail plea, the prosecution has not established the role of the accused in the incident which is the subject matter of the FIR.

"The statements of the witnesses as relied upon by the Ld. Trial Court while dismissing the Bail Application of the Applicant, does not spell out as to how the Applicant was involved in the murder of Ankit Sharma (deceased). Further, there cannot be an umbrella assumption of guilt on behalf of every accused person who was present in the mob and if an inference of guilt of the Applicant herein from the statements of the witnesses such as Pradeep Verma, Shamshad Pradhan, HC Rahul and Ct. Praveen Kumar is assumed / accepted, then every single member present in the mob of 1500-2000 people can be held liable for the murder of the deceased Ankit Sharma," the plea reads.

It has also been argued that no Test Identification Parade was ever conducted by the investigating agency despite the availability of eye-witnesses.

"…. there is not an iota of evidence that the Applicant was a part of any anti-CAA or pro-CAA protest or any other group. In any event, the mere presence of the Applicant in such alleged protests is insufficient to attach any criminality to him as per the judgment of the Hon'ble Apex Court in Muthu Naicker v. State of Tamil Nadu, reported in (1978) 4 SCC 385 and Musa Khan & Ors. v State of Maharashtra, reported in (1977) 1 SCC 733," the plea adds further.

Case Title: SHOAIB ALAM @ BOBBY v. STATE NCT OF DELHI