New Delhi: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday said that it has taken over the probe against the arrested Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh and three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists.
An NIA spokesperson said that it has re-registered the case against Singh and the three terrorists, who were arrested along with arms and ammunition while travelling in a car.
The NIA registered the case after it received orders from the Union Home Ministry.
Earlier, a team of NIA officials, including an Inspector General rank official, reached Srinagar and collected all the information from police in Jammu and Srinagar.
Singh was arrested on January 11 with top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Naveed Babu, his accomplice Rafi and a lawyer named Irfan from a car on the highway near Kulgam.
He was allegedly taking Babu to Jammu to help him travel to Pakistan in connivance with Irfan.
As per police sources, a sum of Rs 12 lakh may have been given to Singh to move out the two Hizbul militants to Jammu on their way to Chandigarh and onward to Delhi to carry out attacks on or before the Republic Day.
Singh, who was posted in the anti-hijacking squad at the Srinagar international airport, was suspended from service on Monday and is likely to be stripped of all his awards, including a gallantry medal, for anti-militancy operations on August 15, 2019.
Meanwhile, the Intelligence Bureau (IB) has found a letter written by arrested Jammu and Kashmir Police Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh in 2005 which asked for “safe passage” to one of the four terrorists arrested by Delhi Police on the Delhi-Gurugram border on their way from Kashmir to Delhi. This comes in the wake of reports that Singh had helped other terrorists as well even as it has been revealed that Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru had mentioned his name in a letter to his advocate.
IB sources said Delhi Police had arrested four terrorists after a gunfight from the Gurugram-Delhi border on July 1, 2005 and recovered arms and ammunition besides fake currency of face-value of Rs 50,000 from their possession following a tip-off received from the Military Intelligence on June 22, 2005.
Two of the four terrorists were identified as Saqib Rehman aka Masood, Hazi Ghulam Moinuddin Dar alias Zahid.
“During the searches, the police seized a sketch of the Palam Air Base and also a letter written by Singh from Dar,” said a source.
“The letter, signed by Singh, who was then Deputy SP, CID in Jammu and Kashmir, said that Dar, a resident of Pulwama, was allowed to carry a pistol (registration no. K 14363) and one wireless set for operation duty. The letter asked all security agencies to give ‘safe passage’ for any verification,” the source said.
The letter was written on Singh’s letter pad.
The source further said that a week after Dar’s arrest, Delhi Police went to Srinagar and raided his house from where it recovered 10 Under barrel Grenade Launcher (UBGL) grenades and a wireless set no. 144057. The police team recovered an AK-47, 2 magazines, 130 live cartridges, two hand grenades and three UBGL grenades at the instance of Saquib Rahman from his two-storey building in Srinagar.
The source said that in its chargesheet in the court, Delhi Police claimed that Dar and Rahman had revealed that they were working as per the directions of Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). They had also given information about their associates in Jammu and Kashmir and the arms and ammunition kept by them.
Delhi Police later arrested Bashir Ahmed Shah, Nazir Ahmed Sofi, Abdul Mazid Bhat, Abdul Qayoom Khan and Birendra Kumar Singh in the case.
The source said Singh later told Delhi Police on phone that he had written such a letter for Dar.
Sources said the letter written by Singh raises many questions: “How did Singh allow a private person to travel with a wireless set? How did Singh justify his letter for Dar, against whom the Central Military Intelligence had alerted Delhi Police?”
Earlier, during his interrogation, Singh hinted at the role of many more police personnel involved in helping the terrorists.
Singh was also named by Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru where the latter, in a letter to his lawyer, also suggested that another Parliament attacker Mohammad was taken to Delhi on the direction of the police officer. (IANS)
