J&K DSP Davinder Singh quizzed, 10 questions still unanswered

New Delhi: As the quizzing of arrested Jammu and Kashmir Police Deputy Superintendent Davinder Singh is still on since his arrest on January 11 for travelling with two top Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists, the investigators need clarification on 10 major questions which relate to national security.

As the NIA has been approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs to investigate the case following revelations what so far made by Singh during his interrogation to a joint team of the NIA, the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and Jammu and Kashmir Police’s CID, the major corn is to clarify the real motive of the terrorists.

The NIA can now interrogate Singh thoroughly to find out the motive of the terrorists and his links to Hizbul Mujahideen and other terrorist organisations during their previous operations in the Valley.

Here are 10 unanswered questions:

* What was the main plan of the Hizbul terrorists Naveed Babu and Asif Ahmad with whom Singh was travelling in a car to Jammu when they were held by Jammu and Kashmir Police on January 11 at Mir Bazaar before the Jawahar tunnel in Kulgam district along with lawyer Rafi Ahmad?

* What was the operation which the terrorists wanted to execute in Delhi on or before Republic Day after reaching Chandigarh for onward journey?

* Why didn’t Singh inform any senior officer if, what he claimed, he was taking the terror operatives to surrender?

* Why a cache of arms and ammunition — five grenades and AK-47 rifles — were kept in the car they were travelling and Singh’s Indiranagar residence in Srinagar which were recovered during police raids?

* Did Singh help terrorists earlier as well?

* Why was Singh’s name mentioned in the letter written by Afzal Guru to one of his lawyers in which it was alleged that the Jammu and Kashmir officer had tasked him to take a terrorist to Delhi and arrange for his accommodation there? The Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorist Afzal Guru had to accommodate was one of those who was killed during the attack on Parliament. Singh was never questioned even after Afzal Guru’s letter named him. Afzal Guru was hanged in 2013 for his role in the Parliament terror attack in 2001.

* Why was Singh involved in routine operation despite his posting in the anti-hijacking unit of Srinagar airport?

* How many times did Singh help arrested Hizbul militant Babu and since when was he in touch with Babu?

* What and who is the source of Rs 12 lakh which Singh received for assisting the Hizbul terrorists to move them out of Jammu?

* Why did he gave shelter to the arrested militants at his residence?

Based on inputs, the Jammu and Kashmir Police had intercepted the vehicle in which Singh was travelling with the terrorists while tracking the movements and location of Babu, a former Special Police Officer, when he made a phone call to his brother.

Babu is accused of being involved in the killing of 11 people from outside Kashmir, including truck drivers and labourers in south Kashmir in October and November last year, and forcing a shutdown in south Kashmir after the abrogation of Article 370 on August 5 last year.

All were arrested and a case initially lodged at Qazigund police station in Kulgam.

During his interrogation, Singh, however, maintained that he had no link to Hizbul militants and that he was taking the terrorists to surrender, but interrogators have dismissed his claims.

As per 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 last year.

However, the Jammu and Kashmir Police have clarified that “he was never awarded any gallantry or meritorious medal by the Ministry of Home Affairs as has been reported by some sections of the media”.

In a series of tweets, the police said Singh was only awarded a “gallantry medal during his service by the erstwhile J&K state on Independence Day 2018” for his “participation in countering a fidayeen attack by terrorists at the district police lines in Pulwama on August 25-26, 2017, when he was posted as a DSP in the district police lines, Pulwama”.

Singh had disclosed that he had put up the terrorists at his Indira Nagar house in Srinagar, right next to the Army’s 15 Corps Headquarters, and thereafter accompanied them to Jammu in a car driven by the Hizbul overground worker, an intelligence source said.

IANS