A Delhi court on Thursday directed the NIA to respond by tomorrow to an application filed by Engineer Rashid, arrested in a 2016 Jammu and Kashmir terror funding case, seeking interim bail to take oath as an MP after the recently concluded general elections.

Former J&K MLA Sheikh Abdul Rashid, popularly known as Engineer Rashid, defeated former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

He moved the court seeking interim bail, or custody parole in the alternative, to take oath and perform his parliamentary functions.

The application was moved before Additional Sessions Judge Chander Jit Singh on June 4, and had directed the NIA to file its response by today.

However, the agency on Thursday sought more time to file the reply.

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

The former MLA’s name cropped up during the investigation of Kashmiri businessman Zahoor Watali, who the NIA had arrested for allegedly funding terrorist groups and separatists in the Valley.

The NIA had filed a charge sheet against several individuals, including Kashmiri separatist leader Yasin Malik, Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed and Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin, in the case.

Malik was awarded life imprisonment by a trial court in 2022 after he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by The Telegraph Online staff and has been published from a syndicated feed.