New Delhi, July 14 (IANS) Facing flak over the conviction of former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain in the 2020 Delhi riots case, the party’s national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday sought to distance himself, stating that the convict had been expelled from the party long ago. Kejriwal, taking to his X account, posted, “We expelled him from AAP long long back. Didn’t he join one of chanda chor party’s sister organization?”His reply comes on the back of scathing criticism from the BJP, which questioned the silence of AAP leaders over the conviction of one of its own leaders.Tahir Hussain was convicted by a city court on Monday, six years after the deadly Delhi riots, for the brutal murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) officer Ankit Sharma. Hussain and four others were found guilty on charges of promoting enmity, rioting, assault, criminal force and murder.

Following Hussain's conviction, Delhi Law Minister Kapil Mishra questioned the silence of the AAP leadership and asked in a presser, "Why are Arvind Kejriwal, Manish Sisodia and Sanjay Singh silent after the conviction? Why have they not come forward and said anything on the matter?"The BJP’s central leadership, while escalating the attack, said that the convicted ex-councillor was a blue-eyed boy of Arvind Kejriwal.BJP national spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari said that AAP leaders, including Sanjay Singh and Arvind Kejriwal, defended Tahir Hussain to the hilt for their vote-bank politics.“The nation would not forget that the AAP had chosen to stand with a murderer and rioter for electoral gains,” he said.Shehzad Poonawalla called Hussain’s conviction an indictment of AAP and Congress.

“Hussain has been convicted. Satyamev Jayate. It is the conviction of the entire AAP-Congress ecosystem, which was behind these anti-Hindu riots,” Poonawalla alleged in a video statement.Reacting to these charges, AAP stated on Monday that Hussain had no association with the party after his suspension from primary membership in 2020 following an FIR registered against him.Notably, the IB officer Ankit Sharma had gone missing during the communal violence in North-East Delhi and his body was later recovered from a drain near the Chand Bagh area.

/IANS