The Delhi High Court on Thursday (January 23, 2025) sought the stand of the NIA on Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer’s plea on the issue of granting him bail in a terror-funding case.
Justice Vikas Mahajan asked the agency to file its response and listed the matter for further hearing on January 30.
Mr. Rashid leads the Awami Ittehad Party but successfully contested the 2024 general elections as an independent candidate from Baramulla. He had defeated National Conference leader and former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
Senior counsel appearing for the lawmaker argued that his bail plea has been pending in the lower court for a considerable time and urged the high court to either direct its expeditious disposal or decide the matter itself.
“Issue notice. Let reply/ status report be filed,” the high court said.
On December 24 last year, Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh dismissed Rashid’s plea urging him to pronounce the verdict on his pending bail application.
The trial judge said at the present stage he could only decide the miscellaneous application and not the regular bail plea.
The case was sent back to the ASJ by the district judge for hearing.
The ASJ court requested the district judge to transfer the case to a court designated to try lawmakers since Rashid was now an MP.
On Thursday, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) counsel said the agency has already written to the high court for designation of the MP-MLA court as a court that could deal with NIA cases.
Mr. Rashid was elected from the Baramulla constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and has been lodged in Tihar Jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror-funding case.
Cases of the NIA and the ED also involve Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and others.
The ED filed a money laundering case against the accused persons on the basis of the NIA’s FIR, which accused them of “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir valley.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Wednesday (November 27, 2024) informed the Patiala House court in New Delhi that it will write a letter to the Delhi High Court requesting it to designate the NIA court with the powers of MP/MLA court to empower it to hear a terror funding case in which Baramulla MP, Shiekh Abdul Rashid (alias Engineer Rashid), is one of the accused.
