Srinagar: The National Investigation Agency (NIA) as part of a probe into tainted Jammu and Kashmir police officer Davinder Singh’s alleged links with separatist militants on Sunday conducted raids at multiple locations in the Union Territory’s Shopian district.
The official sources here said that NIA sleuths were fanned out in the militancy-infested district at dawn to raid various places including private houses and offices. They have reportedly seized incriminating material including some documents which may help the agency in its investigation into the sensational case, the sources said.
The raids took place a day after a 20-member NIA team arrived in Kashmir to collect more evidence against Singh who was arrested along with Syed Naveed Mus-htaq alias Naveed Babu, one of the most wanted Hizb-ul-Mujahideen (HM) militants, and his accomplice Asif Ahmed Rather in Kashmir’s Kulgam district on January 11.
Singh who was posted as DSP at the Anti-Hijacking Squad at the Srinagar airport but has since been placed under suspension and the police authorities have also recommended to the government that he may be dismissed from service and the militant duo were travelling in a Hyundai i20 car along the highway connecting J&K’s twin capitals Srinagar and Jammu and were reportedly on their way to Chandigarh.
The police had also arrested Irfan Shafi Mir, a lawyer by profession who was accused by it as being an over-ground worker of militants. Subsequently, Naveed Babu’s brother Syed Irfan Ahmed was also arrested from Punjab.
The investigations done by the J&K police had reportedly revealed that Singh had accompanied militants or helped them in relocating to various parts of country on different occasions in lieu of money and other considerations. However, the Centre later asked the NIA to probe the case.
The sources said that a team of the NIA led by a DIG rank officer went to Anantnag on Saturday and held a meeting with the senior police officials there. The places which were raided by the NIA sleuths included the homes of Naveed Babu, Asif and Irfan Mir and also those of a Hizb militant Adil Pala and Khursheed Sheikh, a local resident who allegedly helped Naveed Babu in stealing four service rifles from a security picket at a FCI store in Budgam.
