SRINAGAR, India– The Central Bureau of Investigation on Monday arrested a suspect in the 1989 abduction of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, marking the first arrest made since the case was transferred to the agency.
According to an agency statement, the CBI took Shafat Ahmad Shangloo into custody from Police Station Nishat. Shangloo, originally from the Hawal neighborhood and now living in Ishber Nishar, is accused of conspiring with Yasin Malik and others in the kidnapping under multiple sections of the Ranbir Penal Code and the TADA Act.
The CBI said Shangloo had been an absconder for decades and carried a reward of Rs 10 lakh. He will be produced before the TADA Court in Jammu within the legally required timeframe.
The arrest reflects renewed investigative activity in one of Jammu and Kashmir’s most prominent criminal cases. Officials confirmed that the CBI also conducted searches at the residences of two former divisional commissioners and seven other individuals as part of ongoing evidence-gathering efforts.
Rubaiya Sayeed was abducted in Srinagar on December 8, 1989, by the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front. She later identified Yasin Malik as one of the men involved. The kidnappers demanded the release of five jailed JKLF members, a demand the V.P. Singh government agreed to in order to secure her release.
The case has remained significant because of its political and historical implications, as well as the difficulty in bringing all accused individuals to justice. Legal experts say Monday’s arrest could signal a renewed push by the CBI to move the decades-old investigation forward.
The latest development marks one of the most substantial steps in the case in years and has drawn national attention to a matter that has remained unresolved for more than three decades. (Source: IANS)
