Arrested DSP Davinder Singh Not Awarded Gallantry Medal By MHA: J&K Police

Jammu and Kashmir Police on Tuesday said that Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh, who was arrested a few days ago along with two militants, has not been awarded any gallantry or meritorious medal by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

The police added that the only gallantry medal awarded to Singh during his service was by the erstwhile J&K State on Independence Day in 2018.

"It is to clarify that Deputy SP Davinder Singh is not awarded any Gallantry or Meritorious Medal by MHA as has been reported by some media outlets/persons," Jammu and Kashmir Police said in a tweet.

"Only gallantry medal awarded to him during his service is by the erstwhile J&K State on Independence Day 2018 for his Participation in countering a Fidayeen Attack by Terrorists at District Police Lines Pulwama on 25/26 Aug 2017, when he was posted there as DySP. Media persons are advised to avoid speculative stories not based on facts," the J&K Police added.

They said a special investigation team is handling the 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 police said it will treat Singh at par with terrorists.

Singh is being interrogated for his role in helping terrorist Naveed Babu to escape from Kashmir to Pakistan.

The police detained the officer, along with two militants when the trio was travelling in a vehicle on Srinagar-Jammu highway at Wanpow.

Davinder had a robust record in anti-militancy operations and had honoured with the gallantry award in 2017. Currently, he was posted as DSP, Anti-hijacking, at the sensitive Srinagar International Airport. Recently, Singh was seen in government-released pictures, receiving foreign diplomates last week.

The arrest assumes importance as the officer, according to sources, was ferrying the militants out of the Valley to Delhi. Deputy Inspector General of South Kashmir Atul Goyal was supervising the operation which led to their arrest.

Naveed Babu, a special police officer (SPO), who had deserted the police force in 2017, was among the two Hizbul Mujahedeen commanders. Back then, the police had said that Babu decamped with four weapons. The former SPO shot to the limelight after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government scrapped Jammu and Kashmir's autonomy and statehood in August 2019. Police had accused Babu of killing non-Kashmiri civilians and setting ablaze an apple-laden truck in Shopian district of south Kashmir in October. He had been threatening apple growers not to send their produce to Indian markets.

The police were miffed with such actions and had put up posters with Babu’s pictures in different areas of Shopian, requesting the people to share information about him.

In 2013, political parties in the Valley had demanded a probe into the circumstances leading to Guru’s arrest. Engineer Rashid, the then Langate MLA, had demanded the government ''constitute a commission to probe the role of J-K Police officers in setting-up Afzal Guru''.

Referring to a letter written by Afzal to his lawyer Sushil Kumar, which was published in the local press, the parties had demanded a probe into these allegations.

Afzal had written to his lawyer in 2004 when he was lodged in Ward no 6 (High-Security Ward) Jail number 1 of Tihar. In the letter, Afzal had explained how "DSP Davinder Singh", the then deputy superintendent of police, J-K Police's Special Operations Group at Humhama, Jammu & Kashmir, asked him to "take Mohammad", a co-accused in the Parliament attack case, "to Delhi, rent a flat for his stay and purchase a car for him".

(With ANI Inputs)