The arrest of senior superintendent of police’s personal security officer (PSO) on charges of killing a retired deputy superitendent of police and carrying out other terror attacks has sent the security establishment in a tizzy in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sources told Deccan Herald that after the arrest of the PSO, Abdul Rashid Shigan, recently for the assassination bid of state’s law and parliamentary affairs minister, Ali Mohammad Sagar, and 12 other terror attacks in Srinagar since last year on behalf of Hizbul Mujahideen militant outfit, authorities have decided to put the police force under the scanner.
“Intelligence Bureau sleuths with the help of Electronic Surveillance Unit (ESU) have been put on alert and asked to scrutinise call details of some suspected policemen including some officers,” sources said.
They added that newly appointed director general of police Ashok Prasad has asked his subordinates to thoroughly investigate cases of nexus between militants and police.
Earlier, in June this year four policemen had been arrested after investigations revealed they were acting as “moles” for the militants.
“Central investigating agencies had joined the state police to investigate the militant-cops nexus case in June and it is likely that in the latest case also the central agencies will take over the investigations,” sources said.
The inspector general of Kashmir police, S M Sahai, who disclosed the second police-militant nexus this year, said Shigan, a constable of the security wing of J&K police was found to be the kingpin of a Hizbul Mujahideen outfit.
He revealed Shigan alias Omar Mukhtar, also known as Moulvi, a prized catch — was currently posted as PSO to SSP Bandipore, Bashir Ahmad Khan and was chief of the new found group — Kashmir Islamic Movement, a shadow group of Hizbul.
According to sources, Shigan was an overground worker of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen outfit in early 1990s before he got recruited as a constable in J&K Armed Police in 1998.
“However, a couple of years later police recovered a pistol and some ammunition from his residence and he was detained under Public Safety Act. But in 2002 state High Court not only quashed his detention orders but also directed the government to reinstate him,” they added.
Since 2007 he remained posted in security wing and lastly remained attached to SSP Bandipore.
A senior police officer, who is close to the case, said investigation into the 13 terror strikes carried out by Shigan was still underway and a number of his aides would be arrested soon.
“During interrogation Shigan revealed that he was directly in touch with his handlers in Pakistan. But there is also a possibility of some more cops being involved in the nexus and we are looking into that angle,” police official added.
Arms and ammunitions seized from Shigan’s house included two AK-47 rifles, one Kirankov rifle, four Chinese pistols, IEDs and grenades.