Journalism of Courage
The suspended Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) who was arrested along with two Hizbul Mujahideen militants on Saturday evening had given shelter to the terrorists at his home in a high-security Srinagar locality, it has emerged from their interrogation, the police said on Monday.
DySP Davinder Singh, who was posted with Srinagar airport’s anti-hijacking unit, was suspended on Monday.
“It is a rule (service rule) that whenever a government official is arrested (and) taken into custody, he is automatically suspended. The same is applied to him (Singh),” Additional Director General of Police, Security, Muneer Khan told The Indian Express.
Read | Parliament attack, Afzal Guru shadow back to haunt J&K Police officer
Singh was arrested in a police operation on Saturday evening on Srinagar-Jammu national highway. Two militants — Syed Naveed Mushtaq, a top Hizbul Mujahideen militant, and Rafi Rather — and Irfan Shafi, an advocate who is said to be their associate, were also in the Jammu-bound car, the police had said.
Police sources said Singh, who was awarded the President’s medal for gallantry last year, and the arrested militants have revealed during interrogation that the militants were hiding at Singh’s residence in Srinagar’s Indira Nagar.
A highly fortified locality, Indira Nagar is in Badamibagh Cantonment area and several top Army, police and civil administration officers, as well as politicians, live there.
The car allegedly left Singh’s Srinagar residence on Saturday and was headed towards Jammu, and then possibly would have moved further on to Delhi, sources said. The police on Saturday night had raided Singh Indira Nagar residence and recovered two rifles.
“That the militants were putting up at such a fortified high-security area seems to have been a serious security breach,” a senior police officer said. “It was a serious security risk and…the area could have been the target of militants.”
Another officer said Singh has always brought bad name to the police. “He has demoralised the entire police force,” the officer said.
In 2004, in a letter to his lawyer Sushil Kumar, Afzal Guru, then lodged in Tihar Jail for his involvement in the Parliament attack, had said that “DSP Davinder Singh”, then posted with J&K Police’s Special Operations Group at Humhama, had asked him to “take Mohammad”, a Pakistani national identified as one of those who carried out Parliament attack, “to Delhi, rent a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him”.
