IB staffer Ankit Sharma’s murder during Delhi riots: Over 2 yrs on, key accused held; visit to chemist gave him away
The accused, Muntajim, was arrested by the Special Cell from Meerpet, Telangana.
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Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma (File)The Delhi Police Wednesday said they had arrested one of the main accused in the murder case of Intelligence Bureau staffer Ankit Sharma, who was one of the 53 persons killed in the 2020 Northeast Delhi riots.
The accused, Muntajim, was arrested by the Special Cell from Meerpet, Telangana on Monday. He is accused of conspiring to kill Sharma and stabbing him in Northeast Delhi’s Chand Bagh.
“We have voice call recordings from phones where he is heard saying ‘chalo, maarna hai’ and ‘sab aa jao’ while talking about Sharma. He is one of the assailants in the case and is one of the key accused,” claimed a police officer.
During the riots, Sharma was brutally murdered by a mob in Chand Bagh and his body was dumped in a drain. The Delhi Police had arrested suspended Aam Aadmi Party councillor Tahir Hussain as one of the accused. Later, nine others were arrested in connection with the case. Sharma was stabbed 52 times.
Pramod Singh Kushwah, DCP (Special Cell), said, “During arrests of the co-accused, Muntajim’s role had come up. We had sufficient evidence but he absconded. Our teams were looking for the riots accused and men involved in the larger conspiracy. We recently received inputs that he had been living in Telangana for six months.”
Based on the inputs, a team led by ACP Lalit Mohan Negi was sent to Telangana’s Meerpet to look for him. Police said they conducted several raids and found that the man visits a chemist shop in the area every day. On Monday, police laid a trap there and arrested him in the evening.
During interrogation, Muntajim told police that he was arrested in a kidnapping and rape case earlier. While in jail, he met another criminal, and started committing petty crimes after his release.
In 2018, he and his wife went to Mumbai to sell goats and came back to Delhi after two years. During the riots, his friends Salman and Sameer came to his house in Chand Bagh, he told police.
“The men planned to participate in the riots in the evening. They called others and assembled near Firdaus Masjid, Mustafabad. They were looking for their targets when they found Sharma walking towards his home. They attacked him and stabbed him multiple times. We have already arrested Salman and Sameer in the case,” added the DCP.
Muntajim is involved in five other criminal cases in Delhi, police said.
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