Delhi/IBNS, July 31 -- Former Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) councillor Tahir Hussain and four others have been sentenced to life imprisonment for the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma during the communal violence in northeast Delhi in February 2020.

The Karkardooma court in Delhi, while declining the prosecution's request for the death penalty, described the manner of Sharma's killing as being of "utmost brutality" and said the crime had been committed on religious grounds.

The court sentenced Hussain, Nazim, Qasim, Javed and Anas to life imprisonment after convicting them earlier this month of murder, criminal conspiracy and other offences in connection with Sharma's death.

While pronouncing the sentence, the court said ...