Officials suspect they were planning a hit on Republic Day.

The Jammu and Kashmir Police on January 12 said they are investigating the role of a gallantry award-winning senior police officer, Davinder Singh, who was ferrying two Hizbul Mujahideen militants, including wanted ‘commander’ Syed Naveed Mushtaq alias Babu, in a civilian car on January 11.

They are suspected to have been headed to Delhi and may have been targeting the Republic Day function in the national capital.

“Based on an intelligence input provided by the Shopian police, two terrorists and one police officer were held during a search of a civilian car on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway on Saturday. The police officer will be treated as a terrorist. The ongoing operation started on Saturday (January 11). Multiple agencies are questioning them,” Inspector-General of Police, Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said.

Top police sources said the house of the arrested Deputy Superintendent of Police was also raided in Srinagar’s Indira Nagar and “one AK-47 and two pistols were recovered.”

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In multiple raids conducted over 24 hours, two hideouts were busted and arms and ammunition were recovered by the security forces in south Kashmir, “but militants managed to escape”.

"The news of the arrest got leaked and allowed the militants to flee," said the IGP.

DSP Singh, awarded with 'Police Medal for Gallantry' in August 2018, was at present posted with the anti-hijacking wing of the police at the Srinagar International Airport. Sources said Mr. Singh was the officer in-charge who provided security and received a 15-member foreign envoys delegation on January 9 at the airport.

"Mr. Singh has applied for a four-day leave," the police officer said. Preliminary reports suggest the officer and the militants were headed to New Delhi, just two weeks ahead of the Republic Day function. The security agencies are probing likely target of the militants in the national capital.

The police officer, who worked with special anti-militancy squad Special Operations Group in 2002, faced a controversy when Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru, in a letter, named him. Guru claimed Singh asked him to take another Parliament attacker Mohammad "to Delhi and arrange him a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him".

The DSP’s links with wanted militant Babu, is about to open a can of worms. The militant 'commander' was behind the killing of 11 truck divers, non-local labourers and apple traders in south Kashmir post August 5 to stop apple trade.

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) named Babu behind a weapon snatching incident from a legislator's house in Srinagar on September 28, 2018 and has already arrested his accomplices in Delhi.

Babu, a resident of Shopian's Nazneenpora, joined the J&K police in 2012 as a constable and joined militant ranks after decamping with four rifles from a guard room of the Food Corporation of India Facility in Budgam's Chandpora in 2017. Meanwhile, three militants were killed in an operation in Pulwama's Tral area on Sunday.

"The militants were hiding in Gulshanpora area. They were killed in the encounter. All were locals and were associated with the Hizbul Mujahideen. They were behind the killing of a civilian, a policeman and carried multiple attacks on the security forces," said the police spokesman.