NIA takes over Davinder Singh case

Singh was arrested while he was travelling with two Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorists.

 

 

Srinagar: Director General of Police of Jammu and Kashmir Dilbagh Singh on Friday said that the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has taken over the investigation of recently suspended DSP Davinder Singh, as all the previous terror attacks were being investigated, according to local police officers involved in the investigation. Singh was arrested by Jammu and Kashmir police on Srinagar-Jammu highway recently when he was travelling with two Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayyaba terrorists.

The Davinder Singh issue has snowballed into a political slugfest, with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claiming that by handing the case over to the NIA, the Centre, especially the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, has buried Singh’s case along with all the links of him with previous terror attacks, including Pulwama. Many Congress leaders have asked for reopening cases of many terror attacks, including the Parliament attack of 2001 and Pulwama attack in which 42 CRPF men were killed, as in both the cases, Singh’s name has surfaced.

The BJP has responded by blaming the Congress for speaking the language of Pakistan and trying to toe the same line on national security. Amid the war of words, NIA officials have taken over Singh’s case from Jammu and Kashmir Police for further investigation.

Davinder Singh, according to some media reports, has spilled the beans about many police officers of Jammu and Kashmir Police, including some senior retired police officials. Media reports further said that Singh has been helping the terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen for the past several years and has amassed a lot of wealth, including some bungalows in both Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Jammu and Kashmir Police sources, Singh was on the radar of the counter-insurgency operation group of J&K Police in South Kashmir. Recently, according to the reports, they intercepted the conversation between Hizbul Mujahideen District Commander of South Naveed Babu and Davinder Singh and started chasing them. They were finally arrested near Wanpoh village of South Kashmir when Singh was escorting the terrorists to Chandigarh and New Delhi.

These terrorists told the interrogators that Singh was taking them to Chandigarh and Delhi on the eve of Republic Day to plant bombs. They further revealed that they have kept two AK-47 rifles, several pistols and grenades at Singh’s house in the Indira Nagar area of Srinagar close to 15 Corps Headquarters Badami Bagh. During the raids, J&K Police also recovered some sensitive maps from his house, including the map of the entire 15 Corps Headquarters and maps of both Jammu and Srinagar airports.  An order was issued by J&K government stating that airports in Srinagar and Jammu are to be “immediately” brought under the security cover of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in view of the arrest of Davinder Singh. The two sensitive airports are to be handed over to CISF by 31 January, the order of the Jammu and Kashmir home department to the director general of police said.

At the time of his arrest, Singh was posted at the highly sensitive Srinagar International Airport and was in-charge of the anti-hijacking squad. Soon after his interrogation and recovery of the maps, the Union government decided to hand over the security of both Jammu and Srinagar Airports to the CISF. While Opposition parties have questioned the silence of the Prime Minister, Home Minister and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval over Singh’s arrest, there is no clarity about the “real confessions” of Singh during the interrogation.

The Director General of Police told the media that all information given by Davinder Singh was highly sensitive. Many Opposition leaders alleged that Singh was working for some Central Intelligence agency and has been responsible for many false flag operations in Kashmir. Meanwhile, the local administration has stripped Singh of the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Medal for Gallantry awarded in 2018.

Latest reports said that the NIA will send a special team headed by an IG level officer to interrogate Singh and the Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists.