New Delhi: The arrest of Davinder Singh, the 57-year-old Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police (soon to be dismissed), has brought into public light the hushed subject of how for more than three decades, terror groups in Kashmir were supported and protected by a few tainted cops.
For people across different fields—intelligence, police, bureaucracy and media—who have served in the valley in these three decades since terrorism took off in the valley in the late 1980s, the arrest of Singh had not come as a surprise.
“We always knew that certain police officials were in the ‘good books’ of the terrorists. These cops were seen as a necessity by consecutive Chief Ministers to maintain peace in the valley by helping as a bridge between the administration and the terror groups. Since these cops enjoyed the patronage of the state government heads, no one touched them. Singh is an example of that,” a senior journalist who has served in the valley recalled.
People familiar with the developments said the rot in the system can be understood from the fact that despite Singh’s name being well-known in the valley for negative reasons, he always got good postings.
“He got out-of-turn promotions, was a part of the Special Operations Group (SOG), worked in positions which are coveted and sensitive (his last posting was at the super sensitive anti-hijacking wing at the Srinagar airport), went to Europe as a part of the UN mission and was awarded the gallantry medal in August 2018. He lived a lavish life, well beyond his known source of income. Do you expect that his deeds were not observed in a region which has perhaps the maximum number of intelligence gathering assets in the entire country? Everyone knew, but kept silent. Singh is not an exception, there are others like him in the system who have accumulated a lot of wealth and influence for the ‘non-police’ work they did while staying in police. Many of them are now living a comfortable retired life,” a former bureaucrat who has worked in the valley said. He said that Singh’s accession all through these years was an evidence of system failure.
Singh had joined the force as a Sub-Inspector in 1990 and was due for promotion to the rank of SP in the coming days. He reportedly had three cases of extortion pending against him. After the arrest of Singh, the Ministry of Home Affairs has directed the Kashmir administration to ensure stricter scrutiny of officials who are posted in sensitive posts and reopen the files of those officers who have similar cases pending against them.
A former Director level officer who spent a considerable time in one of the Intelligence gathering wings said that individuals like Singh are “ignored” and even protected since they do work which is not strictly ethical. “It is impossible to believe that Singh’s deeds were not known to senior officials who have worked in the valley. Many of these officials supported Singh for different reasons and this led to Singh becoming a ‘pet’ of the powerful. CMs, IPS and IAS officers came and left, Singh survived and thrived. The fact that now the interference of local leaders in the administration has been brought almost to zero is one factor that spelt doomed for Singh and will lead to further unmasking of such officers. The few rotten apples in the state police will hopefully be weeded out soon,” he said.