E-Paper
Delhi court grants interim bail to Baramulla MP Engineer Rashid till October 2
Delhi's Patiala House Court granted interim bail to Engineer Rashid, a member of parliament from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, till October 2
Delhi's Patiala House Court granted interim bail to Sheikh Rashid alias Engineer Rashid, a member of parliament from Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla constituency, till October 2 in a terror funding case.
Rashid has been in Delhi's Tihar Jail since 2019 after being arrested in 2017 by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) under the stringent Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror-funding case.
His name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terror groups and separatists in Kashmir.
The agency 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.
Rashid had moved the court seeking interim bail to campaign in the upcoming Jammu & Kashmir assembly elections, scheduled to be held on September 18, 25 and October 1.
Rashid's 2024 Lok Sabha poll victory
Rashid defeated former chief minister and National Conference (NC) vice president Omar Abdullah from the Baramulla Lok Sabha constituency earlier this year.
ALSO READ: Omar Abdullah faces flak for sharing post linking Engineer Rashid’s Lok Sabha polls win to secession
He had won the Langate assembly segment in 2008 and 2014 J&K elections. He unsuccessfully contested the 2019 Lok Sabha polls. Rashid leads the Awami Ittehad Party, but contested these elections as an Independent.
People's Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti on Monday hit out at
Rashid's party AIP, calling it a “proxy” of the BJP.
“I want to know that Rashid is in jail. (PDP founder) Mufti (Mohammad Sayeed) took 50 years to form the party, we still do not have resources to field candidates everywhere. Who is behind his (Engineer's) organisation as their candidates are fielded everywhere, wherefrom is the funding coming? Wherefrom are they getting such courage to engage in hooliganism?” PTI quoted Mufti as saying after PDP candidate from Shopian assembly segment Yawar Shafi Banday was injured in an alleged attack by the workers of the AIP.
