SRINAGAR: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) has filed a charge sheet against suspended deputy superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Davinder Singh for his association with militant groups in Kashmir valley, officials said Monday.
Singh was arrested in January this year for providing safe passage to militants Naveed Babu, Rafi Ahmed Rather and Irfan Shafi Mir.
NIA in a statement said that it filed Charge-sheet against six accused persons, namely Syed Naveed Mushtaq @ Naveed Babu (Hizbul Mujahideen militant), Irfan Shafi Mir @ Advocate, Devender Singh (DySP, J&K Police), Rafi Ahmad Rather (HM militant), Tanveer Ahmad Wani (ex-LoC trader) and Syed Irfan Ahmad (brother of Naveed Babu) under sections 120B, 121, 121A & 122 of the IPC, sections 17, 18, 18B, 19, 20, 23, 38, 39 & 40 of the UA (P) Act 1967, and 25 (1)(a) & 35 of Arms Act, section 4 & 5 of Explosive Substances Act in NIA Special Court at Jammu.
The case was initially registered at police station Qazigund in police district Kulgam on 11.01.2020 after the arrest of two militants of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen i.e. Syed Naveed Mushtaq, the then-District Commander of HM for Districts Shopian and Ganderbal and Rafi Ahmad Rather along with one serving DySP of J&K Police named Devender Singh and Irfan Shafi Mir @ Advocate near Al-Stop Naka, Qazigund while they were going out of Srinagar towards Jammu in a car owned and driven by Irfan Shafi Mir @ Advocate.
“During the search of vehicle, one AK-47 Rifle, 03 Pistols and a cache of ammunition and explosives were recovered. All the 04 accused persons were arrested by J&K Police on the same day,” it said.
NIA took over the investigation of the case on 17.01.2020 by re-registering the same as RC-01/2020/NIA/JMU at Police Station, NIA Jammu.
During the course of investigation, these 04 accused persons were interrogated thoroughly and searches were conducted at 15 places in Kashmir Valley as well as in Jammu.
Three more accused persons namely Syed Irfan Ahmad, younger brother of accused Syed Naveed Mushtaq, accused Tanveer Ahmad Wani and Tariq Ahmad Mir were arrested in the case on 23.01.2020, 10.02.2020 and 29.04.2020 respectively for being part of the conspiracy to extend support to the banned militant organization Hizb-ul-Mujahideen by way of raising and transferring funds to the HM militants, harbouring them and supplying them arms, ammunition & explosives to carry out subversive activities, the statement said.
“The investigation has revealed that the accused were part of a deep-rooted conspiracy hatched by the Pakistan-based militant organization Hizb-ul-Mujahideen and Pakistani State Agencies to commit violent acts and to wage war against the Union of India.”
Accused Devender Singh was also in touch with certain officials of Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi through secure social media platforms, the NIA statement.
Investigation revealed that he was being groomed by Pakistani officials for obtaining sensitive information. The investigation has revealed that ex-police Constable Naveed Babu had deserted Police force along with certain weapons and was responsible for various killings, including incidents of terror in which labourers and truck drivers were killed after the abrogation of Article 370 from J&K.
Earlier last month, a Delhi court had granted bail to Davinder Singh after the Delhi police failed to file charge sheet against him during the statutory period of 90 days in a conspiracy case.
The Delhi police’s special cell (anti-militant unit) had filed a case against Singh, for alleged criminal conspiracy and activities against the interest of the country.
Despite the bail, Singh has remained in jail in the case being probed by the NIA following his arrest while ferrying Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militants in a vehicle on the Srinagar-Jammu highway in January.
Singh’s bail in the conspiracy case drew fire from the opposition. The NIA had then tweeted that the investigation was in full swing and that the agency would file a charge sheet against Davinder Singh and other accused persons in the first week of July.
The J-K Police had seized an AK-47 assault rifle, three pistols, five hand grenades, 174 rounds of AK-47 and 36 rounds of pistol ammunition and other incriminating material from his car
The NIA later took over the case from the Jammu and Kashmir Police.
