A Delhi court has extended interim bail to Engineer Rashid, a member of parliament of JK’s Baramullah constituency, until October 2. This case has to do with terror funding, and Rashid has been in Tihar Jail since 2019, according to the Indian laws. He was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in February last year under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) in connection with an ongoing probe in terror financing in Kashmir.
The NIA started investing in Rashid after his name floated in the course of the investigation of a Kashmiri businessman, Zahoor Watali, involved in charges of terrorism and secessionist funding in the valley. The investigation done on Watali’s case helped to uncover more relevant links of separatist leaders with terrorists and terror financing, including Yasin Malik, JKLF leader Hafiz Saeed, LeT founder, and Syed Salahuddin, Hefazat-e-Islam chief.
Some of the other three key persons who were also arrested in the same context as Rashid in Jammu and Kashmir included Abu Hanz Sara, a top terror funds supplier. Yasin Malik is one among a few who was handed life imprisonment in 2022 in connection with terror funding along with separatist charges.
Sheikh Rashid took another political turn earlier this year when he crossed swords with Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the National Conference (NC) vice president in the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency. His legal fight still goes on due to the terror funding case, which is still pending, and he has been released on interim bail by the Patiala House Court.
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