Man Freed a Day After CBI Arrest in 36-Year-Old Rubaiyya Sayeed Kidnapping Case Mix-Up

A day after he was suddenly arrested by the CBI in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, a Srinagar man walked free when a court found no evidence linking him to the decades-old case.

Shafat Ahmad Shangloo, whom the CBI claimed had been “absconding” for 36 years, was produced before the court on Tuesday, where the agency sought his custody for further questioning. What followed turned into an embarrassing moment for the investigating agency.

During the hearing, it emerged that the CBI itself had cleared Shangloo under Section 169 of the CrPC during the original investigation — and his name did not appear anywhere in the chargesheet filed at the time. With no grounds to justify custody, the court swiftly rejected the CBI’s plea.

Shangloo’s lawyer, Anil Raina, said the court simply pointed to the agency’s own record. “There was nothing against him. The chargesheet didn’t mention his name,” Raina explained.

The case dates back to December 8, 1989, when terrorists kidnapped Rubaiyya Sayeed, daughter of then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed. She was freed after the government agreed to release five jailed JKLF militants — a decision strongly opposed by then J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah, who later claimed he was threatened with dismissal if he didn’t comply.

The hostage crisis is widely seen as a turning point in Kashmir’s separatist movement, triggering a surge in local militant recruitment. In 2022, Rubaiyya identified jailed JKLF leader Yasin Malik as one of her abductors. Malik is currently serving a life term in a terror-funding case.

After his release, Shangloo said he was relieved and grateful that the truth had prevailed.
“I was never an absconder. The court has done justice. I am free,” he said.

The kidnapping case was revived in 2021 after a TADA court in Jammu ordered charges to be framed against Yasin Malik and nine others.

News Source : Information for this article was gathered from a variety of reliable news outlets.