Delhi court adjourns order on Engineer Rashid’s bail plea till Sep 11

New Delhi, Sep 4 (IANS) Delhi’s Patiala House Court on Wednesday adjourned its order on the bail application of incarcerated Lok Sabha MP, Engineer Rashid, till September 11.

Additional sessions Judge, Chander Jit Singh was to deliver the verdict on Engineer Rashid’s bail plea on Wednesday, but he adjourned the matter for the next date.

Earlier, the court had reserved its order in the previous hearing on August 28.

Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

His name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Kashmir Valley.

NIA has opposed the bail plea in the case in which he has been charged under anti-terror law UAPA claiming that he may influence the witnesses and tamper with evidence to obstruct justice.

The NIA also told the court during the last hearing that it would soon file a “pruned list” of witnesses which was likely to “drastically reduce” the time the trial would take.

There are reasonable grounds to believe that the offences he stands accused of are prima facie true, the probe agency said.

It referred to the 2017 case in which Hafiz Muhammad Saeed, the Amir of Jamaat-ud-Dawah, and secessionist and separatist leaders including members of the Hurriyat Conference were alleged to have connived with active militants of terrorist outfits Hizbul Mujahideen, Dukhtaran-e-Millat and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) to raise funds domestically and through hawala for separatist and terrorist activities in Jammu and Kashmir.

The accused persons wanted to wage war against the Government of India and were following the ideology of “freedom”, effectively meaning the secession of Jammu and Kashmir from India, the NIA has claimed.

Engineer Rashid won the Lok Sabha election from J&K’s Baramulla constituency by defeating his closest rival, former chief minister, Omar Abdullah of National Conference (NC) by more than 2.05 lakh votes.

Rashid’s Awami Itihad Party (AIP) has fielded candidates in the ongoing assembly elections as well.

He represented the north Kashmir Langate Assembly constituency as an MLA twice in the past.

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