Rubaiyya Sayeed kidnapping: Court releases Shangloo, rejects CBI plea for custody       

In a major setback to the CBI, a special court on Tuesday set free Shafat Ahmed Shangloo who was arrested by the agency a day before in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, the daughter of the then home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

The court refused to grant Shangloo's custody to the CBI for questioning in connection with the kidnapping that occurred on December 8, 1989, and ended after five days with the release of five dreaded JKLF terrorists by authorities.

Rejecting the CBI plea for his custody, the special court noted that there was no mention of him in the charge sheet filed by the agency.

The agency had sought the custody of Shangloo, arrested in the 35-year-old case, in the TADA court in Jammu, claiming that he had been absconding all these years.

Arrested on Monday by the CBI for allegedly being part of a conspiracy hatched by members of the banned Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to kidnap Rubaiyya, Shangloo carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head, according to the CBI.

Shangloo is alleged to be a close confidant of JKLF chief Yasin Malik.

"He was produced before the special TADA court. We have sought custody of the accused," CBI lawyer S K Bhat said earlier.

In a statement on Monday after the arrest, the CBI said Shangloo conspired with Malik and others in committing offences under various sections of the Ranbir Penal Code and the TADA Act in 1989.

"The absconder was carrying a reward of Rs 10 lakh on his head and was produced before the TADA court in Jammu within the stipulated time as per law," CBI's spokesperson said.

According to officials, 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.

Malik, who is serving a jail term in Delhi's Tihar Jail in a terror-funding case, is not being produced physically in court due to a Ministry of Home Affairs order restricting his movement.