Delhi HC seeks NIA stand on Kashmiri separatist leader's bail plea in terror funding case

The Delhi High Court on Monday (August 7) asked the National Investigation Agency (NIA) to express its view on a plea by Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah seeking bail in a terror funding case.

Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal issued a notice to the NIA on an appeal filed by Shah against a trial court order refusing to grant him bail. The court allowed time to the NIA to place on record the relevant documents.

Argument for bail

Senior advocate Colin Golsalves sought bail on behalf of Shah on the ground that “it was a no-material case”.

In his appeal criticising the trial court order, Shah said he has been in custody for four long years and the trial would take a long time to end.

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“The impugned order of the learned Additional Sessions Judge is contrary to law weight of evidence and probabilities of the case. The appellant has been languishing in jail for four years with over 400 witnesses to be examined, and only 15 witnesses have been examined till date,” the appeal said.

The NIA counsel said he would file the relevant material before the bench.

NIA case

In 2017, the NIA registered a case against 12 people for alleged conspiracy to raise and collect funds for causing disruption by way of pelting stones, damaging public property, and conspiring to wage war against India.

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Shah was arrested on June 4, 2019.

In March 2022, the trial court framed charges against him. It had rejected the bail plea on July 7. The matter would be heard on September 12.

(With agency inputs)