Srinagar: Preliminary investigations into the arrest of a senior police officer and two Hizbul Mujahideen militants have revealed that the officer had taken money from the Hizb militants for giving them a safe passage to Chandigarh or New Delhi possibility with a strike on January 26 in mind.
In an exclusive chat with the wire service—Kashmir News Observer (KNO), a senior police revealed that the deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Devender Singh was on the radar of his superiors since past one year for is “suspicious activities.”
“He fell into the trap of militants and had taken a huge amount to ensure the safe passage of Hizb men including the outfit’s district commander from Shopian Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Naveed Babu to Chandigrah or New Delhi,” he said.
The officer, while speaking on the condition of anonymity, said that preliminary investigations reveal that the DySP Singh had agreed to ensure safe travel to Babu and two of his associates from Kashmir to Chandigarh or New Delhi where “Hizb men were planning to carry out a strike on the eve of January 26 eve.”
“Singh had taken huge amount from the militants. He was on our radar for quite some time and on Saturday, we are able to track him down along with Hizb militants when they were heading towards Jawahar Tunnel,” the officer said.
On Saturday, joint police team from Srinagar and Kulgam launched an operation and nabbed a vehicle I-20 near Jawahar Tunnel on January 11. “Four persons were travelling in the vehicle that include Syed Naveed Mushtaq Shah alias Naveed Babu of Nazneenpora, Shopian, Rafi Ahmed Rather of Manihal, Batapora, Shopian, Irfan Shafi Mir of Diaroo, Shopian and the police officer Devender Singh,” sources said.
Singh, was interestingly, on duty for ensuring security cover to the foreign envoys of 15 countries who visited Srinagar recently. He was also awarded president’s medal for his role in anti-militancy operations in Jammu and Kashmir.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Vijay Kumar on Sunday said that multiple security agencies will interrogate Singh for his role. Kumar had also said that Singh will be treated as a militant. An FIR has already been registered at police station Wanpoh, Kulgam.
Meanwhile, sources told KNO that National Investigations Agency (NIA) is likely to take up the investigations of the case in the days ahead for a thorough probe. (KNO)
