Home Ministry asks NIA to initiate probe into Davinder Singh case

New Delhi: The Union home ministry has asked the NIA to initiate the process of probing the case of suspended Jammu and Kashmir Police deputy superintendent Davinder Singh, who was caught in south Kashmir while ferrying two militants to Jammu last weekend, officials said on Thursday.

The formal notification of handing over the case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA) is expected to be issued by the ministry soon, an official privy to the development said.

Necessary formalities are being completed in Jammu as well as in Delhi before the probe agency takes over the case. The NIA has been credited with breaking the nexus between stone pelters and separatists in Jammu and Kashmir.

Some 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 terror 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 police.

The officials said all records would be handed over to the NIA after the case is registered by the agency.

Singh, who was arrested along with the three other people on Saturday, had ferried 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, the officials said.

Mir, who was driving the vehicle when he along with the others 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.