Charged with the abduction and killing of the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Kashmir, Prof. Musheerul Haq, and his private secretary Abdul Gani Zargar, an alleged operative of the Jammu and Kashmir Students Liberation Front (JKSLF) Hilal Ahmad Sheikh was arrested by the Jammu and Kashmir Police here on Monday.
On April 6, 1990, JKSLF abducted Prof. Haq and Mr. Zargar and demanded the release of its jailed militants Nissar Ahmed Jogi, Ghulam Nabi Bhat and Fayaz Ahmed Wani. As Governor Jagmohan’s government declined to release them, Prof. Haq and Mr. Zargar were shot dead and their bullet-riddled bodies were recovered on April 9.
The CBI investigated the case and six were arrested but a special TADA court acquitted them in 2009.
One of the accused, Khalid Rashid, died in a grenade attack when he was being shifted from a jail. The key accused Hilal Ahmad Beg was killed allegedly in a fake encounter.
The four absconders, declared as proclaimed offenders, were Amanullah Khan, Hilal Beg’s cousin Bilal Ahmad Beg, Javed Ahmad Shah and Hilal Ahmad Sheikh.
On Monday, Hilal Sheikh was arrested when a source informed about his presence in Zadibal area. “We produced him before a judicial magistrate and secured his transit remand for three days,” the police said.
