Terror funding case: Supreme Court questions NIA for referring to separatist Shabir Shah's speeches of 1990s

Supreme Court questions NIA's reliance on 1990s speeches in Shabir Shah's terror funding bail plea case.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 25, 2026) questioned the NIA for referring to certain alleged inflammatory speeches of 1990s while opposing the bail plea of Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah in a terror funding case.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) told a bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, which was hearing arguments on Mr. Shah's bail plea, that there were materials, including inflammatory videos and incriminating e-mails, against Mr. Shah.

When senior advocate Siddharth Luthra, appearing for the NIA, referred to some transcripts of videos, the bench asked about the date of the speeches.

Mr. Luthra said the agency had the dates for some of the videos and they were from the 1990s.

"These speeches are not a new creation. These are something which were already there, say 30 years or 35 years before today. Now, you recover them in 2019 and say that these are the inflammatory speeches," the bench said.

Mr. Luthra said there were inflammatory videos which were found from Mr. Shah's premises when his house was searched. He also said there were statements of witnesses against Mr. Shah as well.