A Delhi court refused to order J&K MP Rashid Eng’s regular bail plea

Lok Sabha MP from Baramulla Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid. File | Photo credit: Imran Nisar

A Delhi court on Tuesday (Dec 24, 2024) refused to order the regular bail application of Jammu and Kashmir MP Rashid Engineer in the terror-funding case.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Chandrajit Singh rejected the application filed by the accused seeking an order on the bail application.

The judge said that in the current situation, he can only decide on miscellaneous applications and not on regular bail applications.

On January 19, the district judge heard the case and sent the case back.

The ASJ court had requested the district judge to transfer the case to the designated court to try the MPs who had watched as Rashid was now an MP.

The district judge referred the case back to the ASJ with the consent of all the accused and the prosecuting agency, the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

The district judge gave the order after getting information that the case related to the jurisdiction of the court is currently pending before the Delhi High Court.

The ASJ will continue hearing the case until the High Court makes a final order on the jurisdictional issue.

Rashid’s lawyer and the NIA jointly requested that the case be heard in court.

Apart from the NIA case, the special judge had recommended that the money laundering case and Rashid’s regular bail plea be transferred to the court for MPs.

Rashid was elected from the Baramulla constituency in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and has been lodged in Tihar jail since 2019 after the NIA arrested him under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case.

The NIA and ED cases also include Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba chief and 26/11 Mumbai attack mastermind Hafiz Saeed, Hizbul Mujahideen leader Syed Salahuddin and others.

The ED filed a money laundering case against the accused based on the NIA’s FIR, which accused them of “conspiring to wage war against the government” and fomenting trouble in the Kashmir Valley.