'Arrested J&K DSP was a Pak agent, got paid by Hizbul for shielding terrorists'

SRINAGAR: A J&K police party arrested a decorated deputy superintendent of police (DSP) along with two Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) terrorists near Mir Bazar in Qazigund area of Kulgam district of the newly formed Union Territory when the trio was travelling in a car on Saturday afternoon. DSP Davinder Singh had bagged the prestigious President's Police Medal only on August 15 last year.The two HM terrorists arrested by the police party, headed by south Kashmir deputy inspector general (DIG) Atul Goel, have been identified as Naveed Babu and Asif Rather. While Naveed is a top HM commander, Rather is a listed terrorist, who had joined the outfit three years ago. Both are from Shopian.Two AK-47 rifles and some hand grenades were recovered from the white Maruti car used by the trio, top police sources said.DSP Singh, who was in the anti-hijacking squad of J&K Police, was currently posted at Srinagar International Airport (SIA). Earlier, he was made part of the special operations group (SOG) of J&K Police as an inspector after this elite force was established in 1994. During his SOG tenure, he got an out-of-turn promotion and became DSP because of his successful anti-terror operations.Later, DSP Singh was removed from the SOG on complaints about extortions and placed under suspension for some time before he was reinstated and posted at Srinagar police control room (PCR). From here, he joined the anti-hijacking squad and was deployed at SIA last year.Though police are tightlipped about the developments, intelligence sources said that the police party later raided DSP Singh’s Srinagar house and recovered one AK-47 rifle, two pistols and three hand grenades. In Srinagar, he was living in the high security Shivpora locality near the army headquarters at Badamibagh. The police team also raided his ancestral house at Tral in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, the sources said, adding that DSP Singh had taken a four-day leave from Saturday on the pretext of visiting Jammu.DSP Singh’s name had also come up in the 2001 Parliament attack case when prime accused Afzal Guru, in a letter from Tihar jail , informed his lawyer that he was forced by J&K SOG DSP Davinder Singh, posted at Humhama in Budgam, to take one of the attackers called Mohammad to New Delhi, rent a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him. These revelations were made public by Afzal Guru’s family after he was hanged on February 9, 2013.Interestingly, Naveed, who was HM’s operational commander for south Kashmir, was also a former police constable who had deserted the force. He was on guard duty at the ration store of the Food and Civil Supplies department in central Kashmir’s Budgam till May 2017 when he fled with two AK-47 rifles and joined HM.According to intelligence sources, Naveed was the second-in-command in south Kashmir after HM divisional commander Riyaz Naikoo. He is an expert in making IEDs and was involved in several terror activities, sources said.