CBI Ends 35-Year Hunt: Arrest of Shafat Ahmed Shangloo in 1989 Rubiya Sayeed Kidnapping Case
In a major breakthrough, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Sunday arrested Shafat Ahmed Shangloo, one of the last remaining absconders in the sensational 1989 kidnapping of Dr Rubiya Sayeed, daughter of then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The arrest comes 35 years after the crime that shook the nation and arguably changed the trajectory of militancy in Jammu & Kashmir.
Shangloo, who carried a reward of ₹10 lakh on his head, was allegedly part of the conspiracy hatched with Yasin Malik and other members of the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) to abduct Rubiya Sayeed on 8 December 1989 from a hospital in Srinagar. The five-day ordeal ended only after the V.P. Singh government released five top militants in exchange – a decision that is widely regarded as the trigger for the explosion of armed insurgency in the Valley in early 1990.
From Militant to Fugitive to Captive
After the kidnapping, Shangloo crossed over to Pakistan-administered Kashmir and later settled in Pakistan, living under various aliases. Despite being declared a proclaimed offender by the TADA court in Jammu, he managed to evade Indian agencies for over three decades. Sources indicate that sustained technical and human intelligence, combined with recent diplomatic pressure on Pakistan to act against individuals wanted in terror cases, finally cornered him.
The CBI statement confirms that Shangloo will be produced before the designated TADA court in Jammu within the stipulated time, effectively reopening one of the oldest and most politically sensitive cases on its books.
Political and Symbolic Significance
The arrest is being seen as more than just the closure of a 35-year-old file. Coming barely months after JKLF chief Yasin Malik was awarded life imprisonment in a separate terror funding case in 2022, it signals the Modi government’s determination to pursue even decades-old cases linked to the early phase of Kashmir militancy.
For the Sayeed family, the development carries mixed emotions. Dr Rubiya Sayeed, now a doctor herself, has largely stayed away from public life. Her sister, former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, has in the past defended the 1989 prisoner exchange as a “humanitarian” decision taken under extraordinary circumstances.
