DSP Davinder Singh (Photo Credit: PTI)
New Delhi:
The Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday clarified that DSP Davinder Singh was not awarded any gallantry or meritorious medal by the Union Home Ministry. “Only gallantry medal awarded to him during his service was by the erstwhile J&K state, on Independence Day 2018,” Jammu and Kashmir police said. In a series of tweets, the Jammu and Kashmir Police said: “It is to clarify that DySP Davinder Singh is not awarded any Gallantry or Meritorious Medal by MHA as has been reported by some media outlets/persons. Only gallantry medal awarded to him during his service is by the erstwhile JK State on Independence Day 2018.”
The police said that the medal was awarded to him for his participation in countering a fidayeen attack by terrorists at the district police lines in Pulwama on August 25-26, 2017, when he was posted as a DSP in the district police lines, Pulwama. The police has advised the media persons “to avoid speculative stories not based on facts”. In another tweet, the police said: “Jammu and Kashmir Police is known for its professionalism doesn”t spare anyone including its own cadres if found involved in any unlawful act or unbecoming conduct.
“We have done it in the past in many cases and now in this particular case, where it has caught its own officer on its own input and action and would continue to abide by our code of conduct and the Law of the Land which is same for everyone.
“A special investigation team of the Jammu and Kashmir Police is handling interrogation of the arrested accused officer and the terrorists, which would probe his criminal conduct in the instant case and his involvement in any such criminal acts in the past,” the tweet said.
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Davinder Singh was on Monday suspended 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 Baba, 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.
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The DySP is deemed to have been suspended after having completed 48 hours in police custody, they said quoting service rules. On Sunday evening, his office at the Srinagar airport, where he was posted as DySP in the anti-hijacking unit, was sealed so that no evidence could be tampered with, the officials said.
Singh was arrested at a checkpoint on a national highway by a team of policemen, who were following the case after intelligence inputs suggested that Naveed Baba was being moved out of the valley.
Caught on the wrong side of the law, all excuses by Singh failed to enthuse police officers who effected his arrest and carried out a search at his residence in Srinagar where he had kept Naveed and his associate Altaf, a recent joinee in the banned terror outfit, the officials said.
Initially, he repeatedly claimed that he was trying to win the confidence of the terrorists to catch a 'bigger fish' but could not substantiate the reasons for not following due protocol.
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.
(With Agency Inputs)
