The National Investigation Agency on Friday filed a chargesheet against six leaders of the separatist Hurriyat Conference in connection with a 1996 case of mob violence and indiscriminate firing on police personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar.
Those named in the chargesheet are Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, Tehreek-e-Hurriyat leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani, J&K People’s Conference founder Abdul Ganie Lone, J&K Liberation Front leader Javid Ahmad Mir, Islamic Students League chairman Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, and Mohammad Yaqoob Wakeel.
The NIA said the proceedings against Geelani, Lone and Wakeel stood abated because they had died while the case was pending. However, it added that the chargesheet established their alleged roles in the criminal conspiracy and unlawful assembly.
The NIA took over the case from the Jammu and Kashmir Police in April 2026 on the directions of the Union home ministry.
The agency arrested Shah weeks after the 72-year-old secured bail from the Supreme Court in a separate 2017 terror-funding case, the Hindustan Times reported. Shah is in New Delhi’s Tihar Jail in connection with a separate Enforcement Directorate case.
The other two surviving accused, Mir and Bakshi, are based in Srinagar.
The agency charged all six under provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code pertaining to criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, rioting and assault on public servants, as well as the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act.
“All six accused had led an unlawful assembly and instigated large-scale violence against police personnel during a funeral procession of slain terrorist Hilal Ahmad Beigh at Naaz Crossing… [on July 17, 1996],” the agency said.
The NIA also alleged that the “mob violence was a part of a larger, pre-planned criminal conspiracy of the Hurriyat leadership to use the funeral procession as a platform for propagating separatist ideology, mobilising public support against [the Union government]”.
The agency claimed that the chargesheeted Hurriyat leaders had incited the violence, raising “anti-India, pro-Pakistan and secessionist” slogans.
Written by Tanya Shrivastava. Edited by Sneha.
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