DySP case of JKP to be handed over to NIA

The National Investigation Agency (NIA) will soon take over the case of suspended Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police Davinder Singh, who was caught in south Kashmir while ferrying two militants to Jammu last weekend, officials said here on Wednesday.

The necessary formalities were being completed in Jammu as well as in the national capital before the probe agency, which has been credited with breaking the nexus between stone pelters and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir, takes over the case, they added.

Some of the NIA members, posted in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, were present during the preliminary questioning of Singh and three others -- Naveed Babu, a self-styled district commander of banned outfit Hizbul Mujahideen, his associate Atif Ahmed and a lawyer, Irfan Ahmad Mir, who has been named as an active overground worker for terror groups by the police.

The officials said in Jammu that all records would be handed over to the NIA after the case was registered by the probe agency.

Singh, who was arrested along with the three on Saturday, had ferried Hizbul Mujahideen terrorist Naveed Babu to Jammu last year and facilitated his return to Shopian after "rest and recuperation".

He is believed to have taken Rs 12 lakh for smuggling the two militants to Chandigarh and arrange for their accommodation for a couple of months, officials said.

Mir, who was driving the vehicle when they were caught by the police from a national highway in Kulgam district, may become a prize catch for the NIA as it is alleged that he was carrying orders from Pakistan. He had visited the neighbouring country five times on an Indian passport.