Jammu, July 11 -- The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Friday filed a comprehensive chargesheet against six senior leaders of the separatist Hurriyat Conference, including jailed Democratic Freedom Party chief Shabir Ahmad Shah, in connection with a 1996 case of mob violence and indiscriminate firing on police personnel in Srinagar. Submitted before the special NIA court in Jammu, the chargesheet names Kashmiri separatist leaders Syed Ali Shah Geelani, Abdul Ganie Lone, Mohd Yaqoob Wakeel, Javid Ahmad Mir, and Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi besides Shabir Shah. An official spokesperson said that while charges against Geelani, Lone, and Wakeel stand abated due to their deaths over the years, the investigation fully established their roles and supporting evidence in the criminal conspiracy. The chargesheet follows a sudden development in April 2026, when the NIA took over the cold case from the Jammu and Kashmir police on the directive from the ministry of home affairs and re-arrested 72-year-old Shah just weeks after he had secured Supreme Court bail in a separate 2017 terror-funding case. Shah remains behind bars in New Delhi's Tihar Jail, where he is currently held due to a separate, ongoing trial under an Enforcement Directorate (ED) case. The other two living accused, Javid Ahmad Mir and Shakeel Ahmad Bakshi, are based in Srinagar at present. According to the anti-terror agency's findings, Shah and the five other accused led an unlawful assembly on July 17, 1996, during the funeral procession of slain terrorist Hilal Ahmad Beigh at Naaz Crossing in Srinagar. The Hurriyat leaders allegedly incited large-scale violence, delivered inflammatory speeches advocating armed struggle, and raised anti-India and pro-Pakistan secessionist slogans. Armed terrorists blended into the procession, opening fire on law-enforcement personnel and injuring several police officials, while the mob damaged government vehicles through heavy stone pelting. The investigation, registered under case file RC-01/2026/NIA/JMU, concludes that the violence was not a spontaneous outburst but part of a pre-planned criminal conspiracy by the Hurriyat leadership. The federal agency said that the group used the funeral procession to propagate separatist ideology, mobilise public support against the Government of India, provoke public disorder, and project the political strength of the Hurriyat in Jammu and Kashmir. All six accused have been charged under relevant provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code, 1989, for criminal conspiracy, attempt to murder, rioting, and assault on public servants, alongside Section 13 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967. While an FIR was originally registered at the Shergarhi police station in Srinagar on the day of the violence in 1996, federal investigators said further inquiry into the larger conspiracy remains ongoing to identify other co-conspirators....