NIA Brings Suspended DSP Davinder Singh To Jammu, Will Take Him On Formal Remand Today

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has brought senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer Davinder Singh, arrested while ferrying three terrorists out of the Union Territory, to Jammu on a transit remand.  According to sources, Davinder Singh has been brought to Jammu on a transit remand and the investigation agency will take him on formal remand from the NIA court for interrogation on Thursday. Earlier on Wednesday, NIA conducted fresh raids at Singh's residences in Srinagar.

Singh was caught along with Naveed Babu, self-styled district commander of banned Hizbul Mujahideen, a new recruit Atif and an advocate Irfan Mir. According to sources the two terrorists and the lawyer had plans to travel to Pakistan after reaching Jammu.

Police recovered arms and ammunition from the car they were travelling in near Qazigund on the national highway in south Kashmir. After receiving orders from the Union Home Ministry, the NIA took over the case.

Earlier, Jammu and Kashmir police chief Dilbag Singh said the force has recommended dismissal of DySP Davinder Singh. He said the police has also recommended for taking back the gallantry medal awarded to Singh by the erstwhile Jammu and Kashmir state on Independence Day in 2018, stressing that the police will act “very ruthless” as “we don’t believe in sheltering or protecting people who have no loyalty towards the force, nation and their people”.

Role in Parliament attack?

Was arrested Jammu and Kashmir Police officer Davinder Singh involved in 2001 Parliament attack? This is the question that the security agencies would be probing, a latest report on Thursday said. According to a media report, Jammu and Kashmir Police chief Dilbagh Singh said that nobody is above the law and everything can be probed. The remark gains significance amid the ongoing probe by the National Investigation Agency. Now-suspended Deputy Superintendent of Police, Davinder Singh was arrested on Saturday in a car along with three Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists. The links between Davinder Singh and the 2001 Parliament attack are not new. Earlier, Afzal Guru, the prime accused in the case had alleged that it was Singh who had sent him to Delhi and made other key arrangements just before the attack.

The letter

In a letter to his lawyer, which is being widely quoted by media reports, Afzal Guru had claimed that Davinder Singh tortured him and was forced to help one of the terrorists that carried out the attack on Parliament under pressure from Singh. The letter is detailed in Arundhati Roy’s book ‘The Hanging of Afzal Guru and the strange case of the attack on Indian Parliament’. In the letter, Guru had said that he started facing trouble after his failed separatist bid and returned to Kashmir. He had written in his letter how the STF started torturing him. He had claimed that it was the STF that provided him with the phone that was found on the body of one of the terrorists killed in the attack.