Day after arrest, man held for kidnapping Rubaiyaa released

A special court in Jammu on Tuesday set free Shafat Ahmad Shangloo, a day after he was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBD) in connection with the 1989 kidnapping of Rubaiyya Sayeed, the daughter of the then Union home minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed.

- Ravi Krishnan Khajuria

Third additional district and sessions judge of the special Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) court, Madan Lal, rejected CBI's plea seeking custody of Shangloo in the 35-year-old case, noting that there was no mention of him in the charge sheet filed by the agency. “I have been set free. The court has delivered justice to me. It is a victory of truth,” Shangloo told reporters on the court premises.

His lawyer Sohail Dar added, “Nothing was found against Shangloo. He has been given the benefit under Section 169 of the CrPC (Section 170 of BNSS), which says that if there is no evidence against the accused, the IO himself releases him.”