The mysterious case of Indian police officer Davinder Singh

SRINAGAR: Senior Indian official   Davinder Singh who was posted in Indian occupied Kashmir  and arrested for  allegedly transporting arms and Kashmiri freedom fighters, had taken 1.2 million Indian rupees to take the fighters to Delhi, reported Indian media. 

Sources in the Indian police informed the Times of India that Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Davinder Singh had allegedly taken 1.2 million in return for helping the fighters with a reconnaissance mission.

DSP Singh had worked for the police for decades and was a member of an elite counter-insurgency force in the disputed territory. He was apprehended late on Saturday when his vehicle was pulled over at a police checkpoint south of Srinigar, the region's main city.

"The fast-moving car was stopped and searched. Two wanted freedom fighters and our officer [...] and a third person were arrested in the operation," Kashmir police chief Vijay Kumar told reporters.

Kumar said police and intelligence agencies were questioning Singh.

Security forces recovered guns and ammunition from several locations in the follow up to the arrests, including from Singh's residence in Srinagar.

Hours after the four men were detained, police killed three freedom fighters in an alleged gunfight in southern Kashmir's Tral district, where the arrested fighters were based.

Singh had risen steadily through the ranks of the Kashmir security apparatus during his career and was last year awarded a medal by the Indian president for his service.

But years earlier he was accused of forcing a man to help armed militants travel to New Delhi in a deadly attack on the Indian parliament in 2001.

Singh acknowledged in 2006 he had tortured his accuser, Mohammad Afzal Guru, while he was in custody, but the claims were not taken seriously by investigators. Guru was later convicted for his alleged part in the attack and hanged.

Kumar told Sunday's press conference that the allegations would now be revisited.

"We will ask him about the attack in the interrogation," the police chief said.

Decades of rebellion

Scores of freedom fighters in Kashmir have fought India's occupation of the territory since a rebellion broke out more than three decades ago.

Police and Indian troops are routinely accused of human rights abuses against the local population.

Security across the territory has been tightened since August 5, when India revoked the region's semi-autonomous status, arrested the top political leaders and imposed a security and communications blockade.

Some restrictions have since been slowly eased but internet services for the public remain blocked.