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NIA arrests former panchayat member in ex-Kashmir cop Devender Singh case
The arrested person, NIA said was in league with militants and provided them logistical support ; he was also in touch with Singh. Officials said the man was arrested from Baramulla district where he also owns a house.
In a breakthrough, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has arrested a former panchayat member from South Kashmir’s Shopian district in the case involving DySP Devender Singh.
The arrested person, NIA said was in league with militants and provided them logistical support ; he was also in touch with Singh. Officials said the man was arrested from Baramulla district where he also owns a house.
DySP Devender Singh was arrested along with three militants from the national highway at Qazigund on January 11 by a team of J&K police. The team was led by two senior J&K police officers. Police later said that Singh was escorting the trio to Jammu and then to Punjab.
After the arrest , the case was handed over to NIA for further investigations; the federal investigating agency carried out a series of raids in different parts of Kashmir, especially in Srinagar and South Kashmir and questioned more than two dozen people. The NIA team also raided the house of Singh in Srinagar , his ancestral home in Tral and seized some documents.
A senior NIA officer familiar with the investigations told Hindustan Times that a person by the name of Tariq Ahmad was arrested by NIA. “The arrested person is from Shopian who was also involved in helping militants.’’
He added that Ahmad is a former panchayat member who was also in touch with Devender Singh.
After his arrest, Singh was shifted from Srinagar to Jammu on a transit remand where he was questioned by senior officials of NIA. At the time of arrest Devender Singh was posted at Srinagar airport and was part of the anti-hijacking wing of Police.
