Running with hare, hunting with hounds
New Delhi: Two days after the arrest of Davinder Singh, a Jammu & Kashmir Police officer decorated with the Presidents’s Police Medal for bravery, the Union Home Ministry has received his initial interrogation report prepared by multiple agencies which swung into action soon after he was caught on Saturday with two terrorists while traveling on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway.
The report has been prepared by a joint team of Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Intelligence Bureau (IB), National Investigation Agency (NIA), and the CID wing of Jammu and Kashmir Police that have been questioning Singh since he was taken into custody after it was learned that he was facilitating the two terrorists on their way to Delhi, said sources on Monday.
The report was submitted to the Union Home Secretary through Additional Secretary (Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh) Gyanesh Kumar who is monitoring the major breakthrough as Singh, Deputy Superintendent of Police posted at the sensitive Srinagar International airport, was caught at Wanpoh in the Kulgam district with Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu and his accomplice Asif. Babu is accused of being involved in the killing of 11 non-local workers including truck drivers and laborers in south Kashmir in October and November last year.
The sources did not reveal the exact excerpts of the report but mentioned that the J&K police officer was part of a major conspiracy hatched by the Hizbul Mujahideen group.
Singh’s interrogation on his movement to Delhi along with the two Hizb militants has given a signal towards a big terror plan to be executed on or before the Republic Day celebration on January 26.
Singh has been asked by interrogators why he was absent from duty on Saturday and had applied for four-day leave from Sunday.
The police officer is also being interrogated on Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru’s letter in which he wrote in 2013 claiming that Singh had asked him to accompany a Parliament attack accused to Delhi and arrange his stay there.
It is learned that Singh has helped Babu and his associates on many occasions despite their involvement in a series of killings carried out by their militant group to drive non-locals out of Kashmir and target Kashmir’s apple industry and traders since the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 which gave special status to the erstwhile state.
Singh was caught when Jammu & Kashmir Police intercepted a vehicle while tracking Babu’s movements and location when he made a phone call to his brother. At the time of his arrest, Singh was traveling with Babu, who was also previously a former Special Police Officer (SPO), and his accomplice Asif.
Singh, who is currently under police custody and is being interrogated, was awarded President’s Police Medal for Gallantry on August 15 last year.
Since the arrest of Singh and the two Hizb militants, security agencies carried out multiple raids across the Union Territory, especially Srinagar and south Kashmir, and seized a huge cache of arms and ammunition stashed by the officer and the terrorists.
Jammu & Kashmir Police have claimed to have recovered an AK-47 rifle and two pistols from Singh’s residence in Badami Bagh Cantonment in Srinagar and another AK rifle as well as a pistol based on Babu’s confession. (IANS)