SRINAGAR: Independent candidate from the Baramulla Lok Sabha seat Abdul Rashid Sheikh, who is lodged in Tihar for alleged terror-funding activities, has significantly reduced his liabilities and increased assets in the last five years, his poll affidavit shows
Better known as ‘Engineer Rashid’, the former MLA’s assets are now valued at Rs 1.55 crore compared to Rs 80 lakh in 2019. It includes a 41,072 sq ft non-agriculture land in his home town Langate and a house in Srinagar worth Rs 90 lakh.
A science graduate with a diploma in civil engineering, Rashid has declared Rs 11.31 lakh home loan and Rs 3.11 lakh Kissan Credit Card loan as liabilities.
The 59-year-old former MLA has only Rs 1,424 in his sole bank account, his financial disclosures show. In the affidavit, he has cited pension as his source of income and his spouse works as a “housemaid”.
Five years earlier, he had declared a residential house in the posh Jawahar Nagar locality of Srinagar, purchased in 2017, as his only asset and also stated that he had a liability of Rs 60 lakh towards a home loan from a bank.
Rashid was arrested in 2019 after his name cropped up in a case registered by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) related to money laundering and waging war against the country. This case also names the designated terrorist and chief of banned Lashker-e-Taiba Hafeez Saeed as an accused.
He has been navigating a complex web of allegations and forging ahead in his political pursuits with the help of the Democratic Progressive Azad Party led by Ghulam Nabi Azad.
Rashid won the Langate assembly segment in 2008 and 2014 and also unsuccessfully contested the 2019 parliamentary elections. On October 7, 2017, he sparked a major controversy by hosting a beef party on the lawns of the MLA hostel in Srinagar and said, “No court or legislature can prevent the people from eating what they want.” He was assaulted by BJP MLAs inside the assembly the next day.