NIA seizes cars used by dismissed DSP Davinder Singh and terrorists in J&K

Srinagar: Three years after their arrest in a dramatic operation on the Srinagar-Jammu highway, the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has seized the three vehicles used by Jammu and Kashmir Police’s dismissed Deputy Superintendent of Police, Davinder Singh, and his Hizbul Mujahideen associates.

The NIA spokesperson on Saturday said that Hyundai i20 car No: JK-03H 1738, Maruti 800 car No: JK-13B 0814 and Hyundai i20 Sportz car No: JK-01AK 8878 were recovered during investigation and these vehicles had now been seized with necessary legal formalities. He said that the three vehicles had been used by Davinder Singh and his terrorist associates “for furtherance of terror activities in Kashmir valley.”

According to the spokesperson, the investigation had revealed that the Hyundai i20 owned and used by the accused Irfan Shafi Mir, Maruti 800 registered in the name of Mushtaq Ahmad Shah of Nazneenpora Shopian and used by his accused son Constable Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Hyundai i20 Sportz registered and used by Tanveer Ahmad Wani of Humhama, Budgam, had been used for terror activities in the Kashmir valley.

.Then Deputy SP in the anti-hijacking wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and posted at Srinagar Airport, Davinder Singh was arrested along with his associates Naveed Mushtaq and Irfan Shafi Mir in an ambush by the Jammu and Kashmir Police near Mir Bazar, Qazigund, on 11 January 2020. He revealed that he, along with constable-turned-terrorist Syed Naveed Mushtaq and Irfan Shafi Mir, both residents of Shopian district, was driving to Jammu.

Arms and ammunition, including one AK-47 rifle and three pistols, were recovered from Singh’s vehicle and later a search at his house on the boundary wall of the Srinagar-based 15 Corps Headquarters at Indira Nagar, Srinagar. Singh, who was to be promoted as SP in a month, was subsequently dismissed from service. Constable Syed Naveed Mushtaq, who had deserted J&K Police and escaped from a picket at the Food Corporation of India depot at Chondpora Budgam along with his own and his colleague sentries’ rifles and joined Hizbul Mujahideen, was also dismissed from service.

The investigations subsequently revealed that Singh was driving and escorting his Hizbul Mujahideen associates to Jammu for their stay during the winter of 2020. It was also revealed that Singh had previously also arranged for the same terror cadres’ safe stay in Jammu a year back.

The NIA has filed the charge-sheet in a designated court where the prosecution proceedings are reportedly in progress.