New Delhi [India], November 3 : The Delhi High Court on Tuesday reserved orders on the bail plea of Baramulla MP Abdul Rashid Sheikh.
He is in custody in a National Investigation Agency (NIA) case linked to terror funding. He was arrested in August 2019. He had been charged with offences under UAPA and others. He was arrested by the NIA in a case registered in 2017.
Division Bench of Justices Prathiba M Singh and Vikas Mahajan reserved the order after hearing submissions advanced by Senior Advocate N Hariharan for Abdul Rashid Sheikh and Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra for the NIA.
Senior Advocate N Hariharan alongwith Vikhyat Oberoi appeared for Abdul Rashid Sheikh alias Rashid Engineer. He submitted that Sheikh is in custody for 7 years. Another accused, Shabir Ahmad Shah, who is charged with the same offences, has been granted bail by the Supreme Court in March 2026.
His bail plea was opposed by the NIA because he gave speeches against India, supported anti-India activities and 2 protected witnesses, and met with witnesses when he was out on interim bail.
Senior counsel for the accused submitted that all the public witnesses have been examined. He was not involved in anti-India activities. 
It was also submitted that Abdul Rashid Sheikh was not named in the main chargesheet. He was arrested in 2019 and named in the second supplementary chargesheet filed by the NIA.
He is an elected MP and has shown his faith in the Constitution of India. There was no question of meeting the public witnesses and influence them as they were the supporter of his party or his official staff. He extended his support to those who got injured in stone pelting. It was his duty as a politician, the senior counsel submitted.
He was granted bail for the election campaign during the Assembly Election, and thereafter he was granted custody parole to take the oath as MP and to attend Parliament sessions. He was also granted interim bail after the demise of his father. 
Senior advocate Siddharth Luthra alongwith Special Public Prosecutor (SPP) Akshay Malik appeared for the NIA and opposed the bail plea of Abdul Rashid Sheikh on the ground that there is sufficient material to show that he gave an anti-India speech. He met the witnesses and influenced them. Two witnesses turned hostile and did not give a statement against him.
It was also submitted that only public witnesses have been examined and the officials' witnesses of the NIA are yet to be examined.
While opposing the bail application, the NIA referred to the order on charges and statment of the witnesses who deposed during the trial. It is not a fit case to grant bail to the accused.