SRINAGAR: The Delhi High Court on Thursday dismissed the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmad Shah, who has been in custody since 2019 in connection with a terror funding case investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
According to Hindustan Times, a bench comprising Justices Navin Chawla and Shailender Kaur delivered the verdict, stating succinctly, “The present appeal is dismissed,” while pronouncing the operative part of the order.
Shah had approached the high court challenging a July 2023 decision of a Delhi court that denied him bail. In his petition, Shah argued that he was neither named in the main charge sheet nor in the first supplementary charge sheet filed by the NIA. He contended that he had already been incarcerated for over seven years and that there was little hope of the trial reaching a conclusion soon.
Shah also submitted that he has spent more than 35 years in various prisons or under house arrest, without any conviction or formal charge in earlier cases. He is currently lodged in Tihar Jail.
While a Delhi court had granted him bail in August 2024, in a money laundering case linked to the broader terror funding probe, Shah remains in custody under charges framed in May 2022 under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) and the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The NIA arrested Shah in June 2019 and included him in the second supplementary charge sheet. The agency has alleged that he was involved in conspiring to raise funds through illegal channels, including hawala transactions and cross-Line of Control trade, intending to fuel militant and separatist activities in Kashmir.
The case also includes other prominent separatist leaders such as Nayeem Ahmad Khan and businessman Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali. In April this year, the Delhi High Court similarly rejected Khan’s bail plea, observing that his release could compromise India’s unity and internal security.
