NEW DELHI: The Delhi high court on Thursday rejected the bail plea of AIMIM leader and former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain, accused in the 2020 Delhi riots murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma.Also Read: Supreme Court grants custody parole to Tahir HussainJustice Neena Bansal Krishna dismissed the plea, despite Hussain’s lawyer arguing that he has been in custody for over five years and that the trial may take more time to conclude, news agency PTI reported.The Delhi Police had opposed the bail plea, calling it a “shocking case” involving the brutal killing of Sharma, who, the prosecution said, was stabbed 51 times and his body dumped in a drain near Khajuri Khas.Hussain was denied bail by the trial court on March 12.Sharma had gone missing on February 25, 2020, amid communal violence in northeast Delhi, which claimed 53 lives. His body was recovered the next day.Hussain, then an AAP councillor, was later expelled and joined AIMIM in December 2024. In February 2025, he contested the Delhi assembly elections from Mustafabad, where he finished third. The seat was won by BJP’s Mohan Singh Bisht. The victory was part of a larger sweep that brought the saffron party back to power in Delhi for the first time since 1998, ending the AAP’s 12-year rule.Four others are also accused in the Ankit Sharma murder case.Communal clashes had broken out in northeast Delhi on February 24, 2020, after confrontations between supporters and opponents of the Centre’s contentious citizenship law spiralled out of control, leaving 53 people dead and scores injured.