Attack on Shabnam exposes moles
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, June 16: Police have cracked a major network of Hizbul Mujahideen in Police Department with the arrest of three constables, who had reportedly been passing on all sensitive information especially pertaining to deployment of police and para-military personnel in Srinagar city to the militant outfit.
Police was investigating involvement of more police personnel posted in police and CID including some officers for similar links with the militants and number of arrests could go up in next few days after interrogation of three police constables, who were tonight shifted to Cargo police station.
A team of National Investigating Agency (NIA) was also camping in Srinagar amidst reports that they too had inputs about the links of some police personnel of Srinagar with the militants, mainly the HM outfit. However, IGP Kashmir SM Sahai said it was police, which had arrested the constables for their links with the militants.
Police sources identified the arrested constables as Mohammad Abbas, Riaz Ahmad and Mohammad Ilyas. A First Information Report (FIR) against all three constables was initially lodged at Shergarhi police station.
According to sources, the police constables had been passing on all sensitive information that had with them including deployment of police and para-military CRPF personnel to the militants of the LeT outfit to facilitate the militants carry out attacks on the two forces in Srinagar City and outskirts.
Their involvement in the militancy surfaced few days back after attempt on the life of a former Hizbul Mujahideen militant Ghulam Hassan Mir alias Shabnam at Saderbal, Hazratbal on June 7. Shabnam was shot at by five to six persons but he had survived the attack.
Investigations by the police revealed that all five to six persons involved in the attack on the life of Shabnam were police and CID constables, who were affiliated to Hizbul Mujahideen and had carried out the attack on the instructions of one of their commanders.
“It was from this attack that police started tracking calls made in Saderbal area and finally zeroed-in on three constables”, sources said, adding their interrogation was expected to lead to more arrests of the constables of police and CID, who were involvement in militancy.
Director General of Police (DGP), K Rajendra said: “things would be clear when we complete our investigations”. He said police acted on its own and arrested the constables as soon as it developed inputs about their links with the anti-national elements.
“Investigations are a continuous process. Earlier also, some constables have been arrested or quizzed for militants links. We will get to bottom of the investigations and take them to logical conclusion”, the DGP said, adding that senior police officers were investigating the case.
The possibility of three arrested constables being involved in more such attacks was not ruled out. They were being quizzed to ascertain their role in attack on CRPF at Victory Crossing, Khanyar few days back in which seven police personnel were injured.
Sources said the NIA teams in New Delhi had also been tracking calls of some of constables of Kashmir Police and they too had valuable inputs about involvement of the cops in the militancy.
Arrest of the police personnel came at a time when just little over a week was left for the start of annual pilgrimage of Shri Amarnath ji shrine in South Kashmir Himalayas.
Sources said the police constables were being subjected to sustained interrogation after their arrest and registration of a case against them following specific inputs about their links with the HM outfit and reports that many more police and CID personnel could also be involved in the anti-national activities.
Reports about involvement of some police officers in the anti-national acts was also being investigated though police authorities ruled out the involvement of any senior officer in the case.
Admitting that police constables had passed on sensitive information to the militants, sources said it was being ascertained whether some arms have also been supplied to the militants.
According to reliable sources, some attacks on police and CRPF by the militants were reported to have been carried out by the militants at the behest of information provided by the constables.
Follow our WhatsApp channel