Delhi court to pass order on MP Engineer Rashid’s bail plea on September 11

NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday deferred till September 11 its order on the regular bail plea of Lok Sabha MP Engineer Rashid, who is in jail in connection with a militant-funding case.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, also known as Engineer Rashid, defeated former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister and National Conference leader Omar Abdullah in the Lok Sabha polls held earlier this year from Baramulla.

Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh, who was scheduled to pass the order on Rashid’s bail plea on Wednesday, posted the matter for the next date, saying the order was not ready.

The court had heard the arguments on the application during an in-camera (not open to the public) hearing on August 28 and reserved its order.

The judge had, on August 20, issued a notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and directed it to file its response on Rashid’s plea by August 28.

On July 5, the court had granted Rashid custody parole to take the oath of office after he emerged victorious in the Lok Sabha poll contest.

Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 militant-funding case.

Rashid is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.

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

The NIA had filed a chargesheet against several people, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, in the case.

Malik was sentenced to life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges. (PTI)