Indian SC questions NIA for referring Shabbir Shah’s 1990s speeches in 2017 case
New Delhi: The Indian Supreme Court has questioned the dreaded Indian agency, the National Investigation Agency, for referring to certain speeches from the 1990s while opposing the bail plea of senior APHC leader Shabbir Ahmed Shah in a fake funding case, registered in 2017.
According to Kashmir Media Service, senior APHC leader Shabbir Shah was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in a fabricated case in July 2017 and was soon shifted to Tihar Jail, Delhi, where he remains lodged to date.
The incarcerated senior APHC leader and Democratic Freedom Party (DFP) chairman, Shabbir Shah, was again arrested by the NIA on June 4, 2019, in connection with the same 2017 case while he was already in Tihar Jail.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing arguments on Shah’s bail plea, that there were materials against Shah, including alleged inflammatory videos and incriminating emails.
When senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, referred to transcripts of some videos, the bench asked about the dates of the speeches. Luthra stated that the agency had dates for some of the videos and that they were from the 1990s.
“These speeches are not a new creation. These are something which were already there, say 30 or 35 years before today. Now, you recover them in 2019 and say that these are inflammatory speeches,” the bench observed.
Luthra claimed that inflammatory videos were recovered from Shah’s premises during a search of his residence. He also alleged that there were witness statements against Shah. The bench then asked about the stage of the trial in the case. Referring to the February 19 order of the trial court, the senior advocate said that 34 witnesses had already been examined.
He added that protected witnesses would now be examined during the trial. After hearing the submissions advanced by the NIA, the bench posted the matter for March 12, when senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, representing Shah, will advance his rejoinder arguments.
