India, Nov. 1 -- The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has told the Supreme Court that Kashmiri separatist leader Shabir Ahmed Shah, facing an alleged terror funding probe, has only spent just over 8 years in custody in about 40 criminal cases, contrary to his claim in a bail plea of having spent 38 years in jail.

In a response filed on Friday, the NIA said that since his arrest by the Enforcement Directorate in an alleged terror funding case in July 2017 he has remained in custody at Tihar Jail and based on information received from the Jammu & Kashmir police, it has come to light that out of the 38 criminal cases against him, he was arrested in only 10 cases for a total period of 83 days.

The response of the investigating agency was...