NIA Takes Over Probe Of DSP Davinder Singh Arrested For Transporting Hizbul Terrorists

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has registered a case to probe suspended Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh who was caught with two Hizbul Mujahideen militants in the Valley last week.

The central agency took over the probe today, two days after the Ministry of Home Affairs asked it to initiate the process of investigating the case.

PTI

The Jammu and Kashmir Police had earlier recommended the NIA take over the case.

Director-General of Police Dilbag Singh said, ¡°We have already recommended an NIA probe into the matter as things of wider magnitude may come out.¡±

¡°We do not believe in sheltering anyone¡­ we show no leniency towards anybody involved in such crimes, irrespective of one¡¯s rank or the organization,¡± he added.

The NIA was instructed by the Ministry of Home Affairs on January 16 to investigate the matter.

PTI

"After receiving MHA's order, NIA has re-registered this case as RC no 01/2020/NIA and started the investigation," a press release by the NIA stated. Singh who has since been suspended from service has booked under sections 18, 19, 20, 38 and 39 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).

According to reports, the NIA will be probing several angles including his foreign visits.

Singh had travelled to Bangladesh three times last year, where is his elder daughter is studying MBBS. The investigators are looking into if there was more to his visits there and who he met there.

Singh was arrested last week along with three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists while they were travelling in a car, near Qazigund on the national highway.

One of the Hizbul terrorists arrested along with Singh was Syed Naveed Mushtaq aka Naveed Babu who himself was a cop. He had deserted the force and fled with four rifles and a few days later, his photograph appeared on Facebook, proclaiming his loyalty to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen.

After the killing of Burhan Wani in 2016, Naveed rose through the Hizbul ranks and was one of its top commanders in the valley.

Singh had reportedly taken Rs 12 lakh for smuggling the terrorists and had even sheltered them in his home before they were caught.

PTI

The officer who was posted with the anti-hijacking team at Srinagar airport did not have a clean past. In 2004, Afzal Guru, who was convicted for the 2001 Parliament attack had claimed that it was Singh who has asked him to transport a man to Delhi and arrange accommodation for him there. He was eventually killed as one of the gunmen who attacked the parliament.

Earlier, the Jammu and Kashmir administration stripped Davinder Singh of the Sher-e-Kashmir police medal for gallantry awarded in 2018.