CBI arrests suspect in Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case

The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested a person in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, for allegedly being part of a conspiracy hatched by members of the banned JKLF terror group.

The person, identified as Shafat Ahmed Shanglu, is alleged to be a close confidant of Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Yasin Malik. He was carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head.

According to officials, Shafat was allegedly an office bearer of the banned terror group and was handling the outfit’s finances. The CBI, along with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, arrested Shafat from his residence in the Nishat area in Srinagar after following the due legal process, the officials said. Malik, who has been attending the court hearings through video-conferencing, has been identified by eyewitnesses, including Sayeed.

Malik, who is lodged in Tihar Jail serving a jail term in a terror financing case.

During the court hearings, Rubaiya Sayeed had identified four other accused besides Malik of being involved in the heinous crime.

She 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 released five terrorists.