Rights activist Khurram Parvez, IPS officer among 6 charged for terror-funding

Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma charged Parvez with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state.

3 min readNew DelhiAug 4, 2026 05:00 AM IST

Khurram Parvez

A New Delhi court has framed charges against human rights activist Khurram Parvez, IPS officer Arvind Negi, and four others, while discharging one accused who turned approver, in NIA’s 2021 case of alleged terror funding in J&K.

On July 31, Additional Sessions Judge Prashant Sharma charged Parvez with criminal conspiracy and waging war against the state under the IPC, under the stringent Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) for offences pertaining to conspiracy, membership and supporting a terror organisation, and also under the Prevention of Corruption (PC) Act for bribing a public servant. Section 8 of the PC Act penalises the bribe-giver, thus making private persons liable to be charged under the same.

Parvez, who was in jail for over four-and-half years, and came out only last week, was the coordinator of the Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS), involved in investigating human rights violations in J&K, as well as advocating for the rights of victims of enforced disappearances, illegal detentions, torture, extra-judicial executions etc. Parvez, in this case, has been accused of allegedly working with LeT, with material object seizure from him including CDs styled along the lines of “a tribute to Shaheed Afzal” (Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru) and “Haqeeqat-e-Kashmir”, a parallel cultural and political protest event in Srinagar in 2013. “The material, taken at face value, raises grave suspicion against (Parvez),” the court held while framing charges against him.

Negi, a Himachal Pradesh cadre officer who spent over 11 years in the NIA, has been charged under the Official Secrets Act for passing on information which is likely to affect the sovereignty and integrity of the State. NIA had alleged that Negi had leaked official secret documents to an alleged overground worker of LeT. He has also been charged under PC Act for allegedly accepting bribes. Negi was arrested in the case on February 18, 2022, and was granted bail on June 2, 2022.

As recorded in the framing of charges order by the trial court, Negi had allegedly passed the interrogation report of Waheed Para, details of the investigation in a 2020 case, and a document on the JKCSS to Muneer Kataria (now an approver), who had then allegedly passed it on to an LeT operative based in Pakistan.

Apart from Parvez and Negi, the court also framed charges against four other accused: Arshid Ahmad Tonch, Zafar Abbas alias Zafar Ali, Rambhawan Prasad and Chandan Mahato. Tonch and Abbas have been charged under UAPA as well as for conspiring to tamper with evidence, while Prasad and Mahato have been charged with criminal conspiracy to forge documents under the IPC. According to the agency, Prasad and Mahato had forged identity documents and used the same for procuring SIM cards and opening bank accounts and passed them on to the co-accused for monetary benefits.

Muneer Kataria, who stands discharged, was allegedly an overground worker for LeT. Kataria was granted pardon and made an approver by the trial court in July 2025.

Sohini Ghosh

Sohini Ghosh is a Senior Correspondent at The Indian Express. Previously based in Ahmedabad covering Gujarat, she recently moved to the New Delhi bureau, where she primarily covers legal developments at the Delhi High Court Professional Profile Background: An alumna of the Asian College of Journalism (ACJ), she previously worked with ET NOW before joining The Indian Express. Core Beats: Her reporting is currently centered on the Delhi High Court, with a focus on high-profile constitutional disputes, disputes over intellectual property, criminal and civil cases, issues of human rights and regulatory law (especially in the areas of technology and healthcare). Earlier Specialty: In Gujarat, she was known for her rigorous coverage in the beats of crime, law and policy, and social justice issues, including the 2002 riot cases, 2008 serial bomb blast case, 2016 flogging of Dalits in Una, among others. She has extensively covered health in the state, including being part of the team that revealed the segregation of wards at the state’s largest government hospital on lines of faith in April 2020. With Ahmedabad being a UNESCO heritage city, she has widely covered urban development and heritage issues, including the redevelopment of the Sabarmati Ashram Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) Her recent reporting from the Delhi High Court covers major political, constitutional, corporate, and public-interest legal battles: High-Profile Case Coverage She has extensively covered the various legal battles - including for compensation under the aegis of North East Delhi Riots Claims Commission - pertaining to the 2020 northeast Delhi riots, as well as 1984 anti-Sikh riots. She has also led coverage at the intersection of technology and governance, and its impact on the citizenry, from, and beyond courtrooms — such as the government’s stakeholder consultations for framing AI-Deepfake policy. Signature Style Sohini is recognized for her sustained reporting from courtrooms and beyond. She specialises in breaking down dense legal arguments to make legalese accessible for readers. Her transition from Gujarat to Delhi has seen her expand her coverage on regulatory, corporate and intellectual property law, while maintaining a strong commitment to human rights and lacuna in the criminal justice system. X (Twitter): @thanda_ghosh ... Read More

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