SRINAGAR: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested an accused carrying Rs 10 lakhs bounty for his involvement in the 1989 abduction of Rubiya Sayeed, the daughter of then Home Minister Mufti Sayeed, after 36 years in Srinagar.
The accused, identified as Shafat Ahmed Shangloo, was arrested by the CBI officials from the Nishat area of Srinagar today.
According to a CBI spokesperson, Shangloo conspired with JKLF chief Yasin Malik and others in committing a crime under various sections of the RPC and the TADA Act during 1989.
JKLF militants had abducted Rubiya Sayeed, then a medical intern, on December 8, 1989, in Srinagar. Her abduction had taken place six days after her father Mufti Sayeed, who died in 2015, assumed charge as Home Minister in the then VP Singh government.
She was released by militants in exchange for five militants released by the then Farooq Abdullah government.
According to the CBI, Shangloo had been absconding since then, and the agency had announced Rs 10 lakh reward for information leading to his arrest.
“Shangloo will be produced before the TADA Court, Jammu within the stipulated time as per law,” the CBI spokesperson said.
Shangloo is said to be a close confidant of detained JKLF chief Mohammad Yasin Malik, who is currently lodged in Delhi’s Tihar Jail.
Malik has been convicted in a terror financing case and sentenced to two life sentences for offences under the UAPA and IPC, along with 10-year sentences, all to run concurrently. A fine of over Rs 10 lakh was also imposed on them.
He is also accused in the Rubiya Sayeed kidnapping case and is facing trial.
During the trial, Rubiya Sayeed identified Yasin Malik as one of the abductors. Malik has been attending the court hearings of the case through video conferencing.
Malik is also facing trial in the killing of four IAF personnel in Srinagar.