Terror funding case: HC issues notice to NIA on Shabir Ahmed Shah's bail plea

The Delhi High Court on Monday issued notice to the National Investigation Agency NIA on a plea by Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah reported news agency ANI He has sought bail in a terror funding case lodged by the NIA in 2017 against various separatist leaders of Jammu and KashmirThe Division Bench comprising justices Siddharth Mridul and Anish Dayal issued a notice to the agencyThe matter has been listed on September 12 for further hearingMeanwhile the bench has been directed to place on record the relevant documentsThe counsel for the petitioner submitted that it is a fresh bail application He is in custody for past 6 years The charge sheet has been filed against the petitionerHis earlier bail plea was dismissed by the trial court on July 7 A petition has been moved on behalf of Shah seeking bailIt has been submitted that the trial court judge erroneously declined to grant bail to the appellant herein by observing that in view of the bar under Section 43D5 of UAPA and there being a prima facie case established at the point of framing charges the appellant could not be granted bailIt is also submitted that the Honble Court ignored the complete lack of material against the appellant the prolonged period of custody undergone and that no criminality with respect to the commission of the offence was assigned to the appellant There is not a single criminal act that can be attributed to the appellantIt is also submitted that the Appellant is a reputed political leader in Kashmir having founded the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party in 1998 with the objectives of seeking the cooperation of people from within and outside the state to inculcate brotherhood friendship and goodwill cultivate religious tolerance and foster regional and ethnic cooperation and interactionThe plea stated that the Appellant finds no mention in the main chargesheet and the first supplementary chargesheet where all the allegations aforementioned have been stated and the Investigation Agency has shown the offences that have allegedly occurred as a result of the said conspiracyThe Investigation agency has in fact gone on to show the interlinkage between the accused persons chargesheeted where again the appellant finds no mention the plea saidThe FIR that was registered owing to the alleged conspiracy and the investigation showing the execution of the conspiracy in the main chargesheet by the accused persons admittedly does not find mention of accused Shabir Shah or his connivance in such a conspiracy or any interlinkage in so far as the conspiracy or execution of the conspiracy concernedIt is also submitted that the Appellant has only been included in the 2nd supplementary chargesheet and was arrested in pursuance of the same on June 4 2019 However the Appellant has been in custody since July 26 2017 in a PMLA caseThe plea has stated that the Appellant has been incarcerated for over 4 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 himOn May 30 2017 the NIA registered a case against 12 accused persons for alleged conspiracy to raise and collect funds for causing disruption by way of pelting stones damaging public property and thereby conspiring to wage war against the government of IndiaOn June 4 2019 the appellant was arrested On October 4 2019 a Second Supplementary chargesheet was filed and the appellant was arrayed as an accused along with othersThe allegations against the appellant included him playing a key role in building a separatistmilitant movement in Jammu and Kashmir inciting and instigating masses to shout slogans for secession of Jammu and Kashmir paying tribute to the families of slain terrorists receiving money through hawala transactions and raising funds through LOC trade which were used to fuel subversive and militant activities in Jammu and KashmirIt is alleged that on February 26 2019 his house was searched and a lot of incriminating material including documents and electronic items was seized from his house Since the formation of JKDFP accused Shabir Ahmad has become the mouthpiece of Pak ISI which had been handling him through his PakPOKbased representative Mehmood Ahmed SagarIt is further alleged that the scrutiny of CDs recovered from his house has revealed numerous instances wherein accused Shabir Shah had made inflammatory speeches at several locations such as Kishtwar Bhadarwa Anantnag Kargil Poonch etc instigating the masses to shout slogans for the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from the Union of India and creating such a surcharged atmosphere against the Government of India that people started pelting stones on the security forcesThe investigation has also revealed that accused Shabir Shah was in touch with PakPOKbased militant leadership including Syed Salahuddin Hafiz Mohd Saeed and Iftikar Haidar Rana as the trial court noted in its order of July 7It is further alleged that the accused Shabir Shah was duly supported by Pakistani agencies through Hurriyat representatives such as Shafi Shair and Mehmood Sagar based in PakistanANI