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

New Delhi, Aug 7 In the case involving Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah, the Delhi High Court on Monday sought a response from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on his plea for regular bail in connection with an alleged terror funding case.

A division bench comprising Justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal was hearing Shah's appeal that challenges an order passed by a special judge on July 7, which had rejected his bail plea.

Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Shah, argued that the case lacked substantial evidence, referring to it as a "no material case".

Gonsalves said that a charge sheet had already been filed by the probe agency, adding that the trial had commenced and charges had been framed.

He further said that Shah's appeal against the order framing charges was pending before the court, and he intended to argue that there was a lack of material evidence.

The court issued notice and directed the NIA to submit relevant material within the next two weeks. The bench then posted the matter for the next hearing for September 12.

"In the absence of any material/material against the appellant, the prolonged period of incarceration, the impossibility of speedy trial with 400 witnesses to be examined by the prosecution, the appellant seeks bail,” the appeal states.

"Appellant has been incarcerated for over four years in the present FIR and intermittently for 35 years in different prisons in Kashmir and the country apart from being under house arrest for a substantial period, without a single conviction or charge against him. A total of 9 PSAs against him have been quashed and it is only now that he has been charged for the first time by the ED in case ECIR no./04/DZ/2007, in which too, the Appellant maintains his innocence," it adds.

Shah was arrested in June 2019, and is alleged to have played a significant role in establishing a separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir.

He is also accused of honoring the families of deceased terrorists, receiving funds through hawala transactions, and raising money via LOC trade to support subversive and militant activities.

The NIA has claimed that several individuals accused of conspiring to gather funds to disrupt the situation in Kashmir and wage war against Indian government have been involved Shah was included as a defendant in the second supplementary charge sheet filed by the NIA on October 4, 2019.

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