Daijiworld Media Network - New Delhi

New Delhi, Jul 31: The family of two convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the murder of Intelligence Bureau (IB) staffer Ankit Sharma on Friday said they would challenge the trial court's verdict in the Delhi High Court.

The Karkardooma Court on Thursday sentenced former AAP councillor Tahir Hussain and co-convicts Nazim, Kasim, Javed and Anas to life imprisonment in the case.

Speaking to ANI, Mohammad Asif, brother of convicts Nazim and Kasim, claimed that his brothers had been falsely implicated and denied they had any connection with Tahir Hussain.

"We will appeal in the High Court. One of my brothers, the younger one, Kasim, lived in the village. The other one too had gone to the village two days before the incident. Tahir Hussain's house is very far away; we had no connection at all," Asif said.

Alleging police misconduct, he claimed that his brothers had been falsely implicated in the case.

Meanwhile, Ankit Sharma's brother, Ankur Sharma, said the family had sought the death penalty for the convicts, arguing that the case fell within the "rarest of rare" category.

"Our demand was that the court should treat this case as a 'rarest of rare' case, and that the guilty should receive the harshest possible punishment. They should have been given the death penalty; that is what we wanted," he told ANI over the phone.

He said the family would continue to pursue the matter if it reaches the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court.

"As the case moves to the Delhi High Court or the Supreme Court, we want my brother to get justice there as well, and the guilty should receive the severest punishment. An example should be set so that such an incident never happens to anyone else," he said.

The prosecution had argued that Ankit Sharma sustained 51 injuries and was brutally assaulted before his body was dumped into a drain. The trial court, however, awarded life imprisonment to all five convicts.