HC denies bail to bizman in case linked to JKLF

A bench of justices Navin Chawla and Shalinder Kaur in its order on Wednesday said there were sufficient material to prima facie establish that Kapoor aided and assisted another accused Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali in bringing foreign money into India for furthering secessionist and terrorist activities in the Kashmir Valley.

“Sufficient material is available to prima facie point towards involvement of the appellant that he along with accused number 10 (Watali) aided and abetted the flow of funds from fake and bogus companies floated in UAE to channelise the same to secessionists and separatists in Kashmir valley,” the bench said.

“…there are reasonable grounds to believe the allegations against the appellant to be prima facie true in reference to the documents collected by the investigating agency during the investigation, which on broad probabilities, are sufficient to implicate the appellant in the present case,” it added.

Kapoor had approached the high court against a city court’s August 2019 order rejecting his bail application. He was arrested by NIA in 2018 in connection with the terror funding case, in which separatist leader Yasin Malik is serving a life sentence.

NIA charged Kapoor in January 2019 under various provisions of UAPA, including section 17 (punishment for raising funds for terrorist act) and 21 (punishment for holding proceeds of terrorism) as well as Section 120B (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The federal agency has alleged that Kapoor was part of a larger conspiracy whereby he aided, assisted, and provided a cover to hold proceeds of terrorism, intended to be used for terrorism and cross border transfer.

Advocate Lakshay Dhamija, representing Kapoor, argued that there was no likelihood for the trial to conclude soon and he deserved to be enlarged on bail since he had already undergone six and a half years of custody. Dhamija also submitted that the accusations levelled by NIA were baseless, adding that alleged secessionist activities could not be classified as terrorist activities.

NIA, represented by senior advocate Siddharth Luthra along with special public prosecutor Akshai Malik and advocate Khawar Saleem, submitted that Kapoor was intrinsically linked with the co accused Watali and had actively participated in the conspiracy with him.

The high court while acknowledging that an accused had the right to a speedy trial, observed the case’s “peculiar” facts a constitutional court could refuse to grant bail. The bench further said that considering Kapoor lived in Dubai, there was a “likelihood of him fleeing from the clutches of law” aside from tampering with the evidence.