‘Double punishment means…’: Manoj Tiwari hits out at AAP’s Tahir Hussain and his bosses

The BJP’s Delhi unit chief Manoj Tiwari on Friday sought to corner the Aam Aadmi Party over the alleged role of the ruling party’s councillor from Nehru Vihar, Mohammad Tahir Hussain, in the death of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma.

Tahir Hussain has been booked for murder and abduction of the 26-year-old Ankit Sharma during the violence in north-east Delhi’s Chand Bagh.

Sharma’s family had named Hussain as a suspect after his body bearing knife-wounds was pulled out of a drain not far from the AAP councillor’s house in Chand Bagh area on Wednesday.

Manoj Tiwari also hinted to the call given by Delhi chief minister and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal for stringent punishment to anyone found guilty of the violence, which has claimed the lives of 38 people so far.

“Double punishment means now Tahir as well as his boss should be punished severely ... The accused and plotters of this case should be hanged in the stipulated time frame .. Stabbing an IB officer 400 times with a knife?? How much has religious intolerance made you act so low ..” Manoj Tiwari tweeted in Hindi.

The AAP has suspended the municipal councillor who had declared Rs 17 crore in assets ahead of the 2017 civic polls.

Tahir Hussain was defended by the leaders of his party initially but chief minister Arvind Kejriwal later said if he was proven to be guilty, he should be given double the punishment.

“Any person who is found guilty should be given stringent punishment. If any Aam Aadmi Party person is found guilty then that person should be given double the punishment. There should be no politics on the issue of national security,” Kejriwal said.

Hussain has denied all allegations and insisted that he was innocent as he claimed he had moved out of the house a day before Sharma was killed as he feared for his own safety.

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), AAP and the Congress indulged in a political slugfest over the violence that began on Sunday.

Several BJP leaders launched an onslaught on the AAP, pointing to the ostensible recovery of petrol bombs and pouches of acid from Tahir Hussain’s residence in Chand Bagh, which witnessed the worst of the rioting that raged between Sunday and Wednesday.

Communal clashes had broken out in north-east Delhi after violence between anti- and pro-Citizenship (Amendment) Act groups spiralled out of control.

Frenzied mobs torched houses, shops, vehicles, a petrol pump and pelted stones at local residents and police personnel.

Authorities began removing debris from the stricken neighbourhoods, with one agency removing as many as 2000kg of bricks and stones – used as projectiles -- from a single neighbourhood.

Fire officials said at least 79 houses, 52 shops, five warehouses, four mosques, three factories and two schools had been set ablaze between Monday and Thursday morning. A rough estimate suggested that at least 500 vehicles, including two-wheelers, were burnt during this period.