NIA takes over probe in case against J&K cop
DSP Davinder Singh, caught with Hizbul militants, to be brought to Delhi
NEWDELHI/SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) on Saturday took over the probe against suspended Jammu and Kashmir police officer Davinder Singh, who was arrested for alleged ties with militants, and will likely bring him to the Capital soon for questioning, officials said.
Singh, a decorated deputy superintendent of police (DSP) with the Jammu and Kashmir Police, was arrested last week after the police intercepted a car on the national highway and found him travelling with two militants and their alleged aide. Singh was suspended on Monday and his office at the Srinagar airport, where he was posted as DSP in the anti-hijacking squad, was sealed. On Saturday, the NIA said: “After receiving MHA’s order, NIA has re-registered this case as RC no 01/2020/NIA and started the investigation.” The move came after the Union home ministry instructed the agency to investigate his alleged links with terrorist groups.
An NIA team has been questioning Singh in Kashmir over the past week jointly with the J&K Police, Intelligence Bureau and other central agencies.
An NIA officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the agency will examine Singh’s role in other cases pertaining to the capture of terrorists and overground workers in the Valley over the years in districts where he was posted.
The two terrorists arrested with Singh were identified as Hizbul Mujahedeen members Naveed Babu and Altaf. Babu is accused of being involved in the killing of 11 non-local workers, including truck drivers and labourers in south Kashmir last year. The police also arrested a lawyer from Shopian, identified as Irfan, who was travelling with them. Preliminary investigations indicated the two alleged terrorists stayed at Singh’s house in Srinagar’s Indra Nagar for about two days.
“Naveed Babu is a dangerous terrorist who is behind killing of labourers and several police officers/special police officers in J&K. We will investigate since when he was in touch with Naveed or other terrorists or if he passed off any sensitive information which may have helped the terrorists,” the officer added. He said Singh could soon be brought to Delhi for further questioning.
The preliminary probe has indicated that this was not the first time that Singh escorted the two terrorists through the counter-insurgency grid in Kashmir valley. As first reported by Hindustan Times, Singh will also be probed in the 2001 Parliament attack case on the basis of a letter written by Afzal Guru in 2013.
On Wednesday, the Jammu and Kashmir administration stripped Singh of the Sher-e-Kashmir Police medal for gallantry. According to an official order, the officer’s act amounted to disloyalty and brought the force into disrepute.
An official in J&K said Singh is believed to have taken ~12 lakh for smuggling the two terrorists to Chandigarh for providing them accommodation for a couple of months. The official, who has been involved in Singh’s questioning and spoke on condition of anonymity, said there have been many inconsistencies in his statements and everything was being crosschecked and corroborated with the confessions of captured terrorists.
JAMMU: Voice calls and short messaging service (SMS) facilities, which were suspended in August last year before the abrogation of Article 370, will be restored for prepaid mobile connection users in Jammu and Kashmir, a government spokesperson said on Saturday.
The Centre had enforced a complete communication clampdown in the region a day before it withdrew the special status of Jammu and Kashmir and divided it into two Union territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh on August 5.
The government has gradually restored phone lines, but internet services and prepaid mobile services had remained suspended.
While landlines were restored between mid-August and September, postpaid mobile services were back on October 14.
Mobile internet services were restored in Kargil, a part of the Union Territory of Ladakh, in the last week of December. And, SMS on all mobile phones and broadband internet services were restored in government-run hospitals from January 1.
“Barely four days ago, I had spoken and briefed in detail about enhancements in access and communication facilities and further facilitation being provided in Kashmir and Jammu divisions,” principal secretary Rohit Kansal said at a press conference.
“It was also clarified that the overall effort shall be to facilitate and to keep restrictions to the bare minimum based on the ground situation,” he said.
“Consistent with this philosophy and after a careful review the competent authority ordered today that voice and SMS facility shall be restored on all local prepaid SIM cards across the Union Territory of J&K,” he said.
The latest decision of the government has come a week after the Supreme Court ordered the Jammu and Kashmir administration to review internet curbs and said access to the internet was a fundamental right.
The top court had given a week’s time to the administration to review the curbs.
Kansal said telecom service providers will initiate the process of verifying the credentials of these users as per available norms for post-paid subscribers.
He also announced that internet service providers, both BSNL and private companies, will provide fixed-line net connectivity with precautions as already directed to all the companies engaged in the software services sector. Kansal also said 2G mobile data services on post-paid mobiles for accessing whitelisted sites shall be allowed in all the 10 districts of Jammu division and, to begin with, in the two revenue districts of Kupwara and Bandipora in Kashmir division.
Service providers were being issued instructions to operationalise the directions immediately after providing all the safeguards detailed in the orders issued, he added.
Opposition parties have criticised the communication blockade but the Centre has maintained that it is committed to the development of Jammu and Kashmir, and Article 370 was nullified to usher in development in the region. Kansal also talked about the visit of 36 Union ministers to J&K this week from Saturday as part of a special public outreach programme and said that they will participate in 60 outreach programmes throughout the Union Territories.
“The visiting ministers will interact with the people and speak to them on the overarching theme of development. The administration has decided that there will be 55 beneficiary- oriented schemes, which will receive 100% coverage for all eligible residents of Jammu and Kashmir,” he said. The focus will be on the implementation of Prime Minister’s Development Package, flagship schemes, iconic projects, good governance, rule of law, equal opportunities to all, rapid industrial and economic growth in all sectors with special focus on income enhancement for all, he said.