NIA opposes bail plea of Baramulla MP Rashid Engineer in terror funding case

Rashid, who’s presently in Tihar Jail in reference to the Jammu and Kashmir terror-funding case, had filed the plea within the Delhi Excessive Court docket searching for non permanent launch to attend the Parliament’s Finances session.

In its reply, the NIA stated, “The current case is a traditional case of misuse of Interim Bail provision which needs to be used sparingly when insupportable grief and struggling is displayed by the involved Accused.”

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NIA additional said that the Applicant/ Rashid Engineer has not laid out in what method he’ll be capable of serve his constituency and obscure averment has been made that he intends to “serve the constituency” and due to this fact the identical isn’t a sound floor for grant of any aid in any respect.

“Furthermore, the work finished by the Applicant/ Accused is put to strict proof to the work finished by the Applicant/ Accused in his constituency,” it stated.

The Bench of Justice Vikas Mahajan sought response of the Registrar Basic of the Excessive Court docket searching for clarification on the designation powers of MP/MLA courts to NIA courts.

Senior Advocate Sidharth Luthra appeared for NIA knowledgeable the court docket that an software had been filed with the Registrar Basic requesting an order to designate the NIA court docket because the MP/MLA particular court docket. It was additionally said that the Registrar Basic had approached the Supreme Court docket relating to the matter.

In the meantime, Rashid’s counsel Senior Advicate N Hariharan argued that whereas his bail petition was heard in August, the following concern of jurisdiction had left him with out a treatment.

The court docket has scheduled the following listening to for February 6.

Engineer has not too long ago moved Delhi Excessive Court docket searching for interim bail from January 31 to April 5, aligning with the Parliament’s session schedule.

The counsel for Rashid Engineer submitted that his total constituency can’t go unrepresented for a protracted interval as he was not granted interim bail over the past session as effectively. He identified that his common bail is pending since September 2024.

Nonetheless, the counsel for NIA identified that the difficulty relating to whether or not the NIA court docket can hear the case relating to the MP/MLAs and the Excessive Court docket registry has approached the Supreme Court docket for clarification.

Just lately, the Delhi Excessive Court docket issued discover to the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) on the Engineer’s plea which sought instructions from the Excessive Court docket to the trial court docket choose to expedite a choice on his pending common bail software, or to adjudicate the matter.

Additionally learn: Delhi HC seeks NIA stand onEr Rashid’s interim bail plea

Engineer has moved the Excessive Court docket after Further Periods Choose (ASJ) Chander Jit Singh, the particular choose assigned to NIA circumstances, declined to rule on his bail software on December 23. The choose said that the court docket solely had the authority to listen to miscellaneous functions, not bail petitions.

Beforehand, the district choose returned the case to the ASJ court docket after a request from the ASJ for the matter to be transferred to a chosen court docket for lawmakers, given Rashid Engineer’s standing as an MP.

This switch request was made with the consent of each the accused and the prosecuting company, the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA). The district choose’s determination got here after noting that the difficulty of court docket jurisdiction was nonetheless pending earlier than the Delhi Excessive Court docket. Till the Excessive Court docket guidelines on jurisdiction, the ASJ court docket will proceed to listen to the case.

Each Rashid’s counsel and the NIA had agreed to maintain the matter within the present court docket. Along with the NIA’s case, the particular choose had recommended shifting a associated cash laundering case and Rashid’s common bail software to the court docket designated for lawmakers.

Engineer Rashid, has not too long ago surrendered at Tihar Jail after his interim bail expired. That is associated to the 2017 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case presently being investigated by the NIA.

Rashid was arrested in August 2019 below the Illegal Actions (Prevention) Act (UAPA). Throughout his incarceration, he filed his nomination for the 2024 parliamentary elections from jail and gained by a margin of 204,000 votes, defeating former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

In 2022, the NIA Court docket of Patiala Home Court docket ordered the framing of prices towards Rashid Engineer and several other different key figures, together with Hafiz Saeed, Syed Salahuddin, Yasin Malik, Shabbir Shah, Masrat Alam, Zahoor Ahmed Watali, Bitta Karate, Aftab Ahmed Shah, Avtar Ahmed Shah, Naeem Khan, and Bashir Ahmed Butt (also referred to as Peer Saifullah).

The fees are a part of an ongoing investigation into terror funding in Jammu and Kashmir, the place the Nationwide Investigation Company (NIA) alleges that numerous militant organizations, akin to Lashkar-e-Taiba, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jaish-e-Mohammed, and JKLF, collaborated with Pakistan’s intelligence company, ISI, to orchestrate assaults on civilians and safety forces within the area.

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The NIA’s investigation claims that in 1993, the All Social gathering Hurriyat Convention (APHC) was shaped to additional separatist actions, with funding channelled by way of hawala and different covert strategies. Hafiz Saeed, together with Hurriyat leaders, is accused of utilizing these illicit funds to gas unrest in Jammu and Kashmir, concentrating on safety forces, inciting violence, burning faculties, and damaging public property.

The company contends that these operations have been designed to destabilise the area and promote terrorism below the guise of political resistance.