Delhi court reserves order on MP Engineer Rashid’s bail plea in terror funding case

New Delhi, Aug 28 (PTI) A Delhi court on Wednesday reserved its order on the bail plea of Lok Sabha MP Rashid Engineer, who is in jail in a terror funding case, and is likely to pronounce its order on September 4.

Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, has filed an application in court seeking regular bail in the case.

Additional Sessions Judge (ASJ) Chander Jit Singh heard arguments on the application during an in-camera hearing (not open to public) and reserved his order.

The judge had on August 20 issued a notice to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) and directed it to file its response by August 28 on his plea.

On July 5, the court had granted Rashid custody parole to take the oath of office after he won the Lok Sabha elections from Baramulla constituency in Jammu and Kashmir.

Rashid has been in jail since 2019 after he was arrested by the NIA under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act in the 2017 terror funding case. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

His name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who was arrested by the NIA for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Kashmir Valley.

The NIA had filed a charge sheet 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.