A court on Tuesday released a man who was arrested a day before by the CBI for his alleged "involvement" in the kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed in 1989, in a big faux pas for the agency.
The CBI had said that Shafat Ahmad Shangloo was an absconder for last 36 years.
But when Shangloo was produced before a court today and CBI sought his custody for questioning, the premier agency had to face an awkward situation.
During the course of investigation, it's the CBI itself which had exonerated Shafat Ahmad Sangloo of any wrongdoing under Section 169 of CrPC. Also, there was no mention of Shangloo's name in the chargesheet filed by the central agency.
"When the CBI sought custody of Shangloo from the court, the court rejected the plea after finding nothing against him in the CBI chargesheet," lawyer Anil Raina, Shangloo's counsel, said.
On December 8, 1989, terrorists kidnapped Rubaiyya Sayeed, the daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.
She was released by her captors in an exchange of five JKLF terrorists from jail after negotiations between the Central government officials. The then chief minister Farooq Abdullah had opposed the release of any terrorist.
The negotiations and release of JKLF members is considered a major reason for the separatist groundswell in Kashmir and large-scale recruitment of locals into terrorist groups.
Farooq Abdullah had alleged that the Central government headed by VP Singh threatened him with dismissal of his government if terrorists were not released in exchange for the Home Minister's daughter.
In 2022, Rubaiya Sayeed, as a prosecution witness, identified Yasin Malik, a jailed JKLF leader, as one of her kidnappers. Malik is serving a life sentence in a terror funding case.
Mr Raina said that the CBI, during the investigation of the kidnapping case, did not find any evidence against Shangloo.
After his release, Shangloo said he was never an absconder, and the court decision was a victory of the truth. "The court has done justice. I have been set free," he said.
The Rubaiya Sayeed kidnapping case was re-opened in January 2021 after a TADA court in Jammu ordered framing of charges against Yasin Malik and nine others.
