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Day after arrest, J&K man held for kidnapping Rubaiyya Sayeed in 1989 released
A special court in Jammu on Tuesday set free Shafat Ahmad Shangloo, a day after he was arrested by the CBI
JAMMU: A special court in Jammu on Tuesday set free Shafat Ahmad Shangloo, a day after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
Third additional district and sessions judge of the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court, Madan Lal, rejected CBI’s plea seeking custody of Shangloo in the 35-year-old case, noting that there was no mention of him in the charge sheet filed by the agency.
“I have been set free. The court has delivered justice to me. It is a victory of truth,” Shangloo told reporters on the court premises.
His lawyer Sohail Dar added, “Nothing was found against Shangloo. He has been given the benefit under Section 169 of the CrPC (Section 170 of BNSS), which says that if there is no evidence against the accused, the IO himself releases him.”
The federal agency had sought Shangloo’s custody, claiming that he had been absconding all these years.
Public prosecutor SK Bhat said Shangloo was declared a fugitive and warrants under section 512 of CrPC were issued against him. “The court today saw the charge sheet wherein CBI had mentioned that there was no evidence against him and so the court didn’t send him to remand,” Bhat added.
A detailed order of the court was awaited.
Shangloo, who carried a reward of ₹10 lakh on him, was arrested by CBI on Monday from the Nishant area in Srinagar with the help of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) Police. He is considered to be a close associate of separatist leader and chief of banned Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) Yasin Malik, against whom charges have been framed in the 1989 kidnapping case. Malik is lodged in Delhi’s Tihar jail, where he is serving a life sentence in a terror-funding case.
In a statement after his arrest, CBI said that Shangloo “conspired with Yasin Malik and others in committing a crime under various sections of RPC (Ranbir Penal Code) and TADA (terrorist and disruptive activities) Act during 1989.”
Rubaiya Sayeed, who was undergoing resident rotatory internship training at Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar, was kidnapped by Malik-led JKLF on December 8, 1989. According to the CBI probe, the accused kidnapped her in a blur car while she was returning home from the hospital. She was freed five days later after the then VP Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists from the outfit in exchange.
Rubaiya, the sister of PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti, is listed as a prosecution witness in the kidnapping case. During court hearings, she had identified five accused, including Malik, involved in the crime.
