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Court frees J&K man held for 1989 kidnap of Mufti Sayeed's daughter, refuses CBI remand day after arrest
Special Court did not agree with custody plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation, a day after his arrest in 36-year-old case
Shafat Ahmed Shangloo, the man arrested on Monday for alleged involvement in the 1989 kidnapping of then home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed’s daughter, has walked free a day later.
A court in Jammu on Tuesday, December 2, refused to grant custody on a plea filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation.
Reasoning for the order given by the Special Court (for CBI/TADA cases) was not immediately available.
"I had no involvement in it (abduction). The court has given me justice today," Shangloo later said. His lawyer, Sohail Dar, said, “Since he has been set free and had no involvement, there shall be no investigation against him anymore.” The detailed order by Madan Lal, Third Additional District and Sessions Judge of the TADA Court, was awaited.
Shangloo carried a reward of ₹10 lakh for allegedly being part of a conspiracy hatched by members of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF). He was alleged to be a close confidant of JKLF chief Yasin Malik, who is in jail in this and other cases.
In a statement, the CBI had said Shangloo conspired with Malik and others in committing offences. Shangloo was allegedly an office-bearer of JKLF and handled its finances.
The CBI, along with Jammu and Kashmir Police, arrested Shangloo from his residence in the Nishat area of Srinagar on December 1, officials said.
Rubaiyya Sayeed was abducted from near Lal Ded Hospital in Srinagar on December 8, 1989, and was freed five days later after the then VP Singh government at the Centre released five terrorists in exchange.
Now living in Tamil Nadu, she is listed as a prosecution witness by the CBI, which took over the investigation in 1990. She had identified Yasin Malik, who is serving a jail term in Delhi's Tihar Jail in a terror funding case, as being one of the men involved, and four other accused.
Malik, 56, was was arrested in early 2019 in connection with a 2017 terror-funding case. He was sentenced in May last year.
In the kidnap case, a special TADA court has already framed charges against Malik and nine others while Shangloo was allegedly absconding.
From Mufti Sayeed's family, his daughter Mehbooba Mufti later served as chief minister of J&K like her father.
