A Delhi court on Thursday said that the communal riots in parts of North East Delhi in February this year was “reminiscent of carnage during the days of partition”, Live Law reported. The violence in left over 50 people dead, hundreds injured and thousands displaced.

While dismissing the bail petition of an accused in a case related to the murder of Intelligence Bureau officer Ankit Sharma, Additional Sessions Judge Vinod Yadav of the Karkardooma court said, “the riots spread like wildfire across the smoke-grey skyline of capital, engulfing new areas and snuffing out more and more innocent lives.”

The court was hearing an anticipatory bail plea filed by Muntajim alias Musa, who had moved the court for relief citing his wife’s illness, reported ANI. The court, however, observed that the medical documents submitted by him were prescription slips and one ultrasound report from 2018.

“In any way, the said medical documents are of no help to the applicant, as the same do not prima facie establishes that the wife of the applicant is suffering from any serious ailment or otherwise,” the court’s order said.

Advocate Mohammed Athar, representing the applicant, submitted that Muntajim has been falsely roped in the matter merely on the basis of disclosure statements made by co-accused persons. The advocate added that he has not been captured either in any CCTV footage or any viral videos, reported ANI.

According to Live Law, the court noted that Muntajim’s call detail record showed that he was found at the scene of crime and that he was in contact with two other co-accused in the case. The court was of the view that the custodial interrogation of the applicant is very much necessary to unearth the conspiracy for planning, instigating and executing the violence.

Special Public Prosecutor Manoj Chaudhary submitted that co-accused Haseen, who was in contact with Muntajim, had admitted in his disclosure statement to having stabbed Sharma number of times with his knife and his accomplices having hit him with sticks and thereafter throwing his body in a drain.

Sharma’s body was found in a drain in Chand Bagh locality. He was returning home on February 25 when he was allegedly stoned and beaten to death. In its chargesheet filed in June, the Delhi Police had claimed that there was a deep rooted conspiracy behind Sharma’s murder. They said that Sharma was brutally killed, with 51 injuries on his body made using sharp weapons. The police also said that the way the Intelligence Bureau official was killed had struck fear in the minds of the people of the area.