The arrest of top cop Davinder Singh while ferrying militants in his car, a day after he received foreign envoys at the Srinagar international airport, has brought back memories of a 2004 letter by ÂParliament attack convict Mohammad Afzal Guru to his lawyer in which Singh was named. Then an officer with J&K Police바카라s Special Task Force (STF), Singh was accused of forcing Afzal to take one 바카라Mohammed바카라바카라one of the militants who would be killed during the Parliament attack on December 13, 2001바카라to Delhi, 바카라rent a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him바카라.
Whether the Âinvestigation in the Davinder case ends up Âanswering the questions raised by Afzal바카라s letter on the functioning of India바카라s counter-Âterrorism establishment remains to be seen. Born and brought up in Tral area of South Kashmir, Singh was Ârecruited as a sub-Âinspector in 1990 and Âinitially posted at the Ram Munshi Bagh police station. Police sources say an inquiry in 1993 had found Singh involved in a case of extortion, but his seniors dismissed the report. In the mid-1990s, Singh was posted in Humhama in the newly constituted counter-insurgency force of the police, the STF, now called the Special Operations Group. It was at the Humhama STF camp that Afzal met Singh after he was arrested by the STF allegedly for not working with them. This is where Afzal was allegedly tortured by Singh. Two years after the Parliament attack, Singh was promoted as deputy superintendent of police.
On August 26, 2017, eight ÂgovÂernment forces personnel, Âincluding four from the CRPF, and three Âmilitants were killed in a Âgunbattle at the district Âpolice lines of Pulwama, around 50 km south of Srinagar. Singh won the ÂSher-i-Kashmir Police Medal for Âparticipating in the encounter. In August 2018, he was made DSP Â(anti-hijacking) at the Srinagar airport.
According to sources, when Singh바카라s car was stopped by the police, he said the men with him were his security guards. They turned out to be Hizbul Mujahedeen commander Naveed Babu, another militant Rafi Rather and lawyer Irfan Shafi Mir. When the Âpolice didn바카라t relent, Singh told them that they were spoiling his game plan.
The officer, according to sources, had sheltered Naveed, who deserted the police force in 2017, at his home Âadjacent to the 15 Corps headquarters at Badamibagh, Srinagar. Naveed is Âaccused of killing at least 11 migrant Âlabourers after the abrogation of Article 370 last year.
By Naseer Ganai in Srinagar
