Two weeks after it arrested two top J&K politicians for their alleged role in the Srinagar sex abuse scandal, the CBI today arrested one of the seniormost IAS officers in the state in the same case: Iqbal Khanday, J&K Principal Secretary, Planning, was taken into custody from his official residence.

Khanday, who was Principal Secretary to former Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayeed, was named by a teenaged victim in her initial statement to the J&K Police and later to the CBI. She had identified him as the “Gora Chitta (fair complexioned) Commissioner”.

The J&K High Court division bench, monitoring investigations into the scandal, had called for early action. Despite several high profile arrests, including that of former ministers Ghulam Ahmad Mir and Raman Mattoo, there was suspense over the identity of the Commissioner with names of several senior officials doing the rounds.

Meanwhile, Sabeena, the alleged kingpin, appearing before the Srinagar Chief Judicial Magistrate, said she would expose many more people involved in the racket.

“I will reveal more names and tell the court everything,” Sabeena told the CJM when she was told to be present in the court again on July 7. “My house was razed. But I am not the only person involved in the racket. There are many others. Why were their houses spared?” she said.

The CJM told Sabeena that she would be given a chance to make her statement and there would be no pressure on her. “You can say anything you want to say,” he told her.

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