New Delhi, Jan 7: The Supreme Court on Wednesday said it would hear on January 13 the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in a terror funding case.
The plea came up for hearing before a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta while senior advocate Colin Gonsalves appeared for Shah in the matter.
As Gonsalves started his submissions, senior advocate Sidharth Luthra, representing the National Investigation Agency (NIA), said he had some difficulty due to personal exigency.
Luthra said Gonsalves was likely to take some time to argue the matter and could advance his submissions.
The bench observed that it would hear the matter next week.
“We are also in some difficulty today because we have limited time,” the bench observed.
It posted the matter for hearing on January 13.
Shah has challenged the Delhi High Court’s June 12 last year order denying him bail in the case.
The NIA had last month told the apex court that examination of witnesses was going on in the case.
On September 4, the top court refused to grant interim bail to Shah in the case and issued notice to the NIA seeking its response on his plea challenging the high court order.
The high court refused bail to Shah in the case, observing that the possibility of his carrying out similar unlawful activities and influencing witnesses could not be ruled out.
Shah was arrested by the NIA on June 4, 2019.
In 2017, the NIA booked 12 people on allegations of conspiracy for raising funds to disrupt by way of pelting stones, damaging public property and conspiring to wage war against the central government.
Shah was alleged to have played a “substantial role” in facilitating a separatist movement in Jammu and Kashmir by inciting the general public to raise slogans in support of J-K’s secession, paying tribute to the family of slain terrorists or militants by eulogising them as “martyrs”, receiving money through hawala transactions and raising funds via cross-LoC trade, which were allegedly used to fuel subversive and militant activities in J-K.
The high court dismissed Shah’s appeal against the trial court’s July 7, 2023 order refusing him bail.
It also rejected his alternate prayer seeking “house arrest”, given the serious nature of the charges.
The high court noted that he was the chairman of an unlawful organisation, the Jammu and Kashmir Democratic Freedom Party.
The high court examined a table elaborating on the 24 pending cases against Shah, indicating his involvement in several criminal cases of a similar nature and related to conspiring for the secession of J-K from the Union of India.–(PTI)
