Ishfaq-ul-Hassan | India Tomorrow

SRINAGAR, MAY 3—National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrested a `former’ BJP leader for his links with disgraced Deputy Superintendent of Police (DySP) Davender Singh who was arrested in January this year on terror charges.

Tariq Ahmad Mir, 36, a former BJP leader and Sarpanch, was arrested by NIA on Wednesday. His name came up during an ongoing investigation into Singh’s nexus with Hizbul Mujahideen.   

Singh, who was posted in an anti-hijacking wing at Srinagar Airport was arrested along with Hizbul commander Naveed Babu and Altaf when they were traveling in a car from Shopian district of South Kashmir on January 11.  

Police sources said Singh was trying to drive Hizbul commanders out of the valley. Two AK-47 rifles were recovered in a subsequent raid at Singh’s house in Srinagar.

Nicknamed `Torture Singh’, he was notorious for tormenting people in custody when he was posted at Special Operation Group (SOG), Srinagar.  Singh was also named in the report titled `Structures of Violence’ released by J&K Coalition of Civil Society and other groups in 2015. His name figured as case no. 129 in which he was accused of killing a student Aijaz Ahmad Bazaz allegedly in custody.

Mir, sources said, was an arms conduit who is being probed for supplying weapons to militant groups and Singh. He was produced in court which granted NIA his six-day custody. 

BJP was quick to disown Mir, saying he was expelled from the party in October 2018.  “The arrested person from South Kashmir was expelled in October 2018 for his anti-party activities. The reports that he is a BJP Sarpanch are far from the reality as Panchayat polls were held on the non-party basis in J&K”, said Altaf Thakur, BJP state spokesman.

Thakur said BJP is a party of principles and clean people. “Every single person associated with the BJP has a clean track record. We don’t support people with militancy links or criminal records. The BJP stands for the people with transparent past, present, and future,” he said.

The BJP spokesman clarified that Mir should not be linked to the party since he was expelled two years back. “His name shouldn’t be linked with the BJP anymore. Media should check facts before attributing someone’s affiliation with the BJP,” Thakur said.