NEW DELHI/ SRINAGAR: A Delhi court has sought NIA‘s response on jailed Baramulla MP and Awami Ittehad Party president Abdul Rashid Sheikh’s plea seeking regular bail ahead of the upcoming assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir, starting Sept 18.
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh of Patiala House courts issued notice to NIA on Tuesday, directing the agency to file its response by Aug 28, when the bail application will be taken up for hearing.
Sheikh, who is popularly known as Engineer Rashid, contested as an independent candidate and defeated Omar Abdullah in the parliamentary elections earlier this year. Lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail since 2019 under UAPA in a terror funding case, he was granted custody parole to take oath as a Lok Sabha member on July 5. His supporters and party workers are hopeful he would be released on parole and lead their campaign in the assembly polls.
Rashid’s name had cropped up in the 2017 terror funding case during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by NIA for funding terrorist groups and separatists in Kashmir. NIA had filed a chargesheet against several individuals, including JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, in the case. Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022, after he pleaded guilty to the charges.
Additional sessions judge Chander Jit Singh of Patiala House courts issued notice to NIA on Tuesday, directing the agency to file its response by Aug 28, when the bail application will be taken up for hearing.
Sheikh, who is popularly known as Engineer Rashid, contested as an independent candidate and defeated Omar Abdullah in the parliamentary elections earlier this year. Lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail since 2019 under UAPA in a terror funding case, he was granted custody parole to take oath as a Lok Sabha member on July 5. His supporters and party workers are hopeful he would be released on parole and lead their campaign in the assembly polls.
Rashid’s name had cropped up in the 2017 terror funding case during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by NIA for funding terrorist groups and separatists in Kashmir. NIA had filed a chargesheet against several individuals, including JKLF chairman Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, in the case. Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022, after he pleaded guilty to the charges.