HC asks NIA to respond to Hurriyat leader's bail plea

New Delhi: The Delhi High Court on Thursday sought response of the National Investigation Agency on a plea by separatist leader Nayeem Ahmad Khan seeking bail in a terror-funding case involving 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed. A bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh issued notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and asked it to file reply to the petition challenging a trial court's order denying bail to the accused. The high court listed the matter for further hearing on March 23. Khan has challenged the trial court's December 3, 2022 order dismissing his bail plea saying that there was prima facie evidence available against the accused. Hurriyat Conference leader Khan was arrested on July 24, 2017 and is currently in judicial custody.

The trial court, in its December 3, 2022 order, had noted that the charges against the accused were framed in March 2022 and that order has not been stayed or set aside, despite a challenge in the high court. It had said that the accused was prima facie involved in terror funding activities and had led a pro-ISIS rally and visited the area where terrorists were killed.

An over 12,000-page charge sheet was filed by the NIA against Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and others for "conspiring to wage war against the government" and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley. LeT terrorist Saeed was also accused of using the services of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, a co-accused in the case, for passing on the money to the separatists and some individuals who were actively indulging in stone-pelting in various areas of the Valley, the NIA had said in the charge sheet. The agency has booked Pakistan-based terrorists Saeed and Salahuddin and others for the alleged offences of criminal conspiracy and sedition under the Indian Penal Code and under stringent provisions of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.