Allahabad high court acquits last convict in Tanzeel Ahmed murder case; family to move Supreme Court

BIJNOR: Allahabad high court has acquitted the last remaining convict in the 2016 murder of NIA officer Tanzeel Ahmed and his wife Farzana, who had earlier been sentenced to death by a local court.The verdict was delivered by Justice Siddharth on Monday, who set aside the trial court’s ruling and ordered Rayyan’s immediate release, observing that the death sentence could not be sustained in law.Reacting to the judgment, Tanzeel Ahmed’s cousin Haseeb Ahmed said the family has full faith in the judiciary and will challenge the high court’s decision in the Supreme Court. He expressed hope that justice would ultimately prevail.In 2022, a sessions court had awarded the death penalty to Munir and his aide Rayyan, terming the crime “rarest of rare.” Munir, however, died in Nov 2022 while in custody due to a kidney infection. He allegedly had 33 criminal cases registered against him across several districts, including Bijnor and Aligarh.Tanzeel Ahmed, who was probing terror cases linked to the Indian Mujahideen, was returning to Delhi with his family after attending a wedding in Bijnor’s Sahaspur on the night of April 2–3, 2016, when two bike-borne attackers intercepted his car and opened fire. His wife later succumbed to her injuries at AIIMS New Delhi. The couple’s two children were also in the vehicle at the time of the attack.Earlier, a special court had also convicted the accused under the Gangster Act. While Munir and Rayyan received prison terms in that case, three other accused were acquitted.