The special TADA court has framed charges against Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) chief Mohammad Yasin Malik and 9 others in the kidnapping of Rubaiya Sayeed, daughter of the then Union Home Minister Mufti Mohammed Saeed, 31 years ago. Malik is currently lodged in Tihar Jail in Delhi.
Malik was arrested by the National Investigation Agency (NIA) in April 2019 in a funding case for terrorism. A month before this, the central government had banned Malik’s organization. A special TADA court had framed charges against the JKLF chief and six others in March last year in another case involving the killing of four Indian Air Force personnel on the outskirts of Srinagar in January 1990.
Besides Malik, Special TADA Judge Sunit Gupta framed charges against Ali Mohammad Mir, Mohammad Zaman Mir, Mehraj-ud-Din Sheikh , Iqbal Ahmad Gandroo, Mohammad Rafiq Pahloo alias Nana Ji alias Saleem, Manzoor Ahmed Sofi, , Javed Ahmad Mir alias Nalka, Wajahat Bashir and Showkat Ahmad Bakshi.
Sayed, the younger sister of People’s Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti, was kidnapped on December 8, 1989. Yasin Malik was accused of playing a key role in the kidnapping. Rubaiya was eventually released December 13 of the same year.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in its charge sheet filed before the Tada court said that two dozen conspired to kidnap Rubaiya, who was back then interning at Lal Ded Hospital, Srinagar, to demand the release of their associates. Among the others, Mohammad Rafiq Dar and Mushtaq Ahmed Lone are dead and twelve others are absconding.
