Representative image of an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Srinagar: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Monday arrested Shafat Ahmad Shungloo, a Srinagar resident, in connection with the December 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, sources said.
Shungloo was detained from Police Station Nishat as part of the agency’s ongoing proceedings in the case, which continues before the designated TADA court.
Rubaiya, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, was abducted on December 8, 1989 by militants of the Jammu & Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) while returning from Lal Ded maternity hospital in Srinagar.
Her kidnappers demanded the release of five jailed JKLF militants, and the V P Singh-led government agreed. The hostage exchange on December 13 is considered a major turning point that emboldened militant groups, fuelled the rise of insurgency in Kashmir and deepened public distrust in political institutions.
Among the key accused in the case is Yasin Malik, the JKLF chief who was then a prominent face of the separatist militant movement.
Malik, who later renounced violence and entered separatist politics, is currently serving a life sentence after his 2022 conviction in a terror-funding case by a Delhi court.
In the Rubaiya kidnapping trial, Malik has been facing charges including criminal conspiracy and kidnapping; he has repeatedly refused to contest the charges legally, choosing not to engage counsel and telling the court he would not challenge the evidence against him.
Over the past few years, the CBI has questioned and produced multiple former JKLF members before the court as part of its renewed effort to take the decades-old trial to its conclusion.
Shungloo’s arrest adds to the list of individuals examined or taken into custody as the agency cross-verifies witness testimonies and supplementary statements.
An official statement from the CBI is awaited.