The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a chargesheet against six senior leaders of the separatist Hurriyat Conference in connection with a 1996 case of mob violence and indiscriminate firing on police personnel in Srinagar. The chargesheet, filed before the NIA Special Court in Jammu, names Shabir Ahmed Shah, Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Gani Lone, Mohammad Yaqoob Wakeel, Javid Ahmad Mir, and Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi.
All six have been charged under provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code, 1989, with criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, rioting and assault on public servants, along with section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. However, the charges against Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Gani Lone and Yaqoob Wakeel stand abated as they died during the pendency of the proceedings.
According to the NIA, the accused had allegedly 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 in Srinagar on July 17, 1996. Armed terrorists blended in with the procession and fired indiscriminately at police personnel, injuring several and damaging government vehicles in heavy stone pelting.
The NIA’s investigation found that the chargesheeted Hurriyat leaders allegedly actively incited the violence, raising anti-India, pro-Pakistan and secessionist slogans. They allegedly delivered inflammatory speeches, advocating armed struggle. The investigation established that the mob violence was allegedly part of a larger, planned criminal conspiracy of the Hurriyat leadership to use the funeral procession as a platform for propagating separatist ideology and mobilising public support against the Government of India.
An FIR was initially registered in the case at the Shergarhi police station in Srinagar on the day of the violence. The NIA took over the case in April 2026 on the directives of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The investigation in the case is continuing.
