ED Money Laundering Case Against Shabir Shah: Delhi Court Grants Bail After SC Order

Special Judge (NIA) Prashant Sharma at the Patiala House Court allowed Shah’s bail plea in the case registered by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), subject to furnishing a bail bond of ₹1 lakh and one surety of the like amount.

Shah, who has been in custody since 2019, had approached the court seeking bail on the ground that the predicate offence investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) had already resulted in grant of bail by the apex court. His counsel, Advocate M S Khan, argued that the ED’s case is based on the same set of allegations and that continued incarceration was unjustified.

The trial court accepted the submissions and granted relief, paving the way for Shah’s release from Tihar Jail upon completion of bail formalities.

Earlier, a Bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta of the Supreme Court had granted bail to Shah in the terror funding case registered under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

During the proceedings before the apex court, Senior Advocate Colin Gonsalves, appearing for Shah, had contended that his client was not named in the initial chargesheet and was arraigned as an accused only in a supplementary chargesheet filed after his arrest. It was also argued that Shah had spent over six years in custody and that the trial, involving more than 400 witnesses, was unlikely to conclude in the near future.

Opposing the plea, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, had submitted that Shah was a key figure in raising funds for unlawful activities aimed at disrupting peace in Jammu and Kashmir.

Earlier, Gonsalves had submitted that Shah was not named in the main chargesheet or the first supplementary chargesheet and was added only in the second supplementary chargesheet. When the Court asked about the primary allegations, Gonsalves stated that Shah had been booked for allegedly making provocative speeches and for terror funding. He had argued that the last speech attributed to Shah dated back to 1993 and that the terror funding allegation was based on claims that one person was carrying ₹75 lakh allegedly meant for Shah. Gonsalves had pointed out that the said individual had been acquitted in the Enforcement Directorate case and that Shah himself had already been granted bail in the ED matter.

The bail granted by the trial court in the ED case comes after a prolonged legal battle. Shah’s earlier plea for bail had been rejected by the trial court in 2023 and subsequently by the Delhi High Court, which had observed that there was prima facie material against him and noted his alleged involvement in multiple similar cases.

Shah had challenged the High Court’s order before the Supreme Court, leading to his eventual release in the predicate offence.

The NIA case dates back to 2017, when an FIR was registered against several separatist leaders for alleged terror funding. Shah was arrested in 2019 and has remained in judicial custody since then.

With bail now granted in both the predicate offence and the money laundering case, Shah is expected to be released from jail after completing procedural requirements.