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| DySP Davinder Singh suspended, may be stripped of gallantry award | | | agencies
Srinagar, Jan 13 Senior Jammu and Kashmir police officer Davinder Singh was suspended on Monday even as it emerged that he had sheltered three terrorists, arrested along with him, at his residence here right next to the Army''s XV corps headquarters at Badami Bagh cantonment, officials said.
Singh, who was decorated with President Police Medal about four months ago, continued to be grilled by a team of police and intelligence investigators. His office at Srinagar airport, where he was posted as deputy superintendent of police in the anti-hijacking squad, was sealed, they said.
Piecing together the chain of events, the officials said the two terrorists -- self-styled district commander of banned Hizbul Mujahideen, Naveed Babu, and Altaf -- were taken to the officer''s home on Friday by a lawyer Irfan, who the police said was an overground worker for terror groups.
Singh reported absent from duty on Saturday, the day he was apprehended by a team of policemen along with the other three at Mir Bazar on the national highway. The DySP had applied for leave from Sunday till Thursday, they said.
Police had carried out searches at his residence here and seized two pistols and an AK rifle beside a large quantity of ammunition.
Singh, whose name had been cleared for promotion as superintendent of police, is also likely to lose the gallantry medal that was awarded to him last year, the officials said.
The DySP is deemed to have been suspended after having completed 48 hours in police custody, they said quoting service rules.
Singh''s arrest may have affected the image of Jammu and Kashmir Police but former director general of police Kuldeep Khoda lauded the police force for not hesitating even once in arresting their senior officer.
"It is the JKP which has caught its own officer. They laid the trap as they do for other terrorists and managed to arrest the DySp. No one can cast any doubt on the police force which has been rendering service to the nation especially during the last 30 years of militancy in the valley," Khoda said.
Another former police chief A K Suri said though the incident is an unfortunate one, what is more important that the culprit has been arrested.
"This is not the only case. In the past also some policemen were under suspicion and were arrested," he said.
This is not the first time that Singh has been in the news for the wrong reasons.
Meanwhile, The nexus between a decorated Jammu and Kashmir Police officer and the terrorists is likely to ruffle many a feather as the past of the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Devinder Singh is going to haunt the intelligence agencies for long.
Following his arrest on Saturday, the Jammu and Kashmir Police has apprised the Ministry of Home Affairs about the arrest, and the Home Secretary has been briefed on the Kulgam encounter.
Singh, who had joined the counter-insurgency Special Operations Group (SoG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police as a sub-inspector and he rose quickly to the rank of a DSP in addition to earning the prestigious police medal for gallantry ostensibly for his anti-militancy duties, will now be interrogated by Intelligence Bureau, Research and Analysis Wing and Military Intelligence teams.
There are chances that Singh will be stripped off of his Presidents Gallantry Medal award, sources said, adding that the process was under consideration. |
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