Jammu & Kashmir

Court rejects bail plea of Waheed Para, second time in 5 months

Posted on

Srinagar: A special court has rejected the bail plea of PDP leader Waheed Para, the second time in five months, and decided to hear Friday arguments on the charge sheet filed against him, officials said.

Para is associated with Jammu and Kashmir’s former Chief Minister of Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and heads the party’s youth wing.

The in-camera proceedings had been hearing the arguments of defence and prosecution over the maintainability of the case filed against Para, who was initially arrested by the NIA in a different case related to militancy-funding, news agency PTI reported.

The report quoting officials said the complete judgment on the rejection of the bail application would be made available on Friday.

In a related development, the court also said that it would begin hearing arguments on the charges filed against Para from Friday. Pertinently, this is the second time in the last five months that the court has rejected Para’s bail application.

Dismissing the bail plea in February, the court had said the charges against him were “grave, serious and heinous in nature” and that a preliminary analysis of evidence collected till then showed he was allegedly aiding militancy in Jammu and Kashmir in the garb of a politician.

In the 19-page order, the special court had rejected the argument that Para was a budding politician and said “a perusal of the CD file transpired that in the garb of a politician, the petitioner had been playing an active role in funding the militants and had also been demanding arms and ammunition against payment by misusing his position”.

Para was detained by the Criminal Investigation Department (Kashmir) and brought from Jammu on a transit remand, after his release by an NIA court on January 9. The National Investigation Agency (NIA) had arrested Para on November 25 in a separate case related to terrorism.

The counsel for Para claimed that his client had managed to win the District Development Council elections while in the custody of the NiA, which alleged that he had paid Rs 10 lakh to Naveed Babu, a militant of the banned Hizbul Mujahideen, for “managing” the 2019 parliamentary elections in south Kashmir, said the report.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police last month filed a charge sheet against Para in a case related to the alleged nexus between politicians and militancy groups in the union territory.

A charge sheet has been filed against Para by the Criminal Investigation (Kashmir) wing of the Jammu and Kashmir’s CID under various sections of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act dealing with waging war against the country and threatening peace.

 

Free Press Kashmir is now on Telegram. Click here to Join.
FPK Android App for 2G. Click here to Download.

Click to comment

Most Popular

© 2024 Free Press Kashmir. All rights reserved.

Exit mobile version