Following DSP Davinder Singh's arrest, CISF to now replace CRPF, J&K police security cover at Jammu, Srinagar airports

In view of current security threats, the airports in Srinagar and Jammu are to be brought under the security cover of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) like elsewhere in the country, replacing the present security cover of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the Jammu & Kashmir police. This comes in the wake of the arrest of DSP Davinder Singh along with two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists.

An order issued by the J&K government read, "This issue has acquired immediacy in view of the recent developments relating to the arrest of Davinder Singh, DSP airport security, for trying to assist militants to travel to other parts of the country."

The two sensitive airports at Jammu and Srinagar are to be "handed over" to the CISF by January 31, the order of the J&K Home Department to the Director-General of Police (DGP) stated.

Additional Secretary to the J&K government Khalid Majeed has ordered the DGP to make necessary arrangements for the housing of the CISF personnel at the Srinagar and Jammu airports, and also to prepare the pre-induction and transport facilities.

The case of the arrest of DGP Davinder Singh is being handled in an urgent and sensitive manner. The J&K police have already suspended the former top cop and urged the central government to sack him. "He has been suspended, we are recommending his sacking to the government. We cannot share right now what has been revealed during the interrogation," ANI quoted J&K DGP Dilbag Singh.

The investigation of the case has been handed over to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). On Wednesday, the NIA Director-General had met Union Home Secretary Ajay Kumar Bhalla to discuss the case and details regarding the investigation, news agencies reported, adding that a team led by an IG-level officer will go to the union territory of J&K to proceed with the investigation.

On January 11, DSP Davinder Singh was arrested along with the top Hizbul commander, Naveed Ahmad Shah alias Naveed Babu, when they were travelling in a car that was possibly on way to Jammu region.

Following the arrests, the security forces carried out raids at the two residences of the cop which includes one at Indra Nagar in Srinagar and Tral in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district where three AK-47 assault rifles and five grenades were recovered.

Looking back into the past, it has been known that in 2001, Davinder Singh was the DSP of the Special Operations Group at Humhama. He was named by Afzal Guru in a letter in 2013 as a key go-between in the 2001 incident.