NIA searches 6 places in probe on Pathankot attack

Homes of Punjab SP, friend, others examined

The National Investigation Agency Thursday conducted searches at six places, including the office and residence of senior Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh and his friends, over its probe into the Pathankot terror attack.

This came after the NIA conducted a behavioural and psychoanalysis test on the Punjab officer to rule out any doubts that emerged in his questioning and lie-detector test done later. NIA sources said the tests were done to scientifically assess his personality and remove doubts before his status is determined as a witness in the case.

The NIA, after getting search warrants from a designated court, conducted searches at the residence of Mr Singh, now posted as assistant commandant of 75th Punjab Armed Police, after being shunted out as superintendent of police (headquarters) in Gurdaspur. His office-cum-residence in Gurdaspur was searched, as well as the residences of his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma, a woman friend and the officer’s cook Madan Gopal. Some recoveries were made and are being analysed, sources said. Mr Singh has been interrogated by the NIA for several days in Delhi.

Punjab top cop under NIA scrutiny Senior Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh was travelling with Madan Gopal and Rajesh Verma when their vehicle was hijacked by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists on the night of December 31 and January 1. Mr Verma was later left on the road with a slit throat, while the other two were let off after a distance. There were doubts about the sequence of events that the police officer had narrated during the night the three were kidnapped and the officer’s vehicle was hijacked, the sources said.

Mr Singh came under the scanner after he said he and the cook were released after their abduction whereas his friend Rajesh Verma, who was travelling with them, was left bleeding midway by the terrorists. Also, the officer’s claim that the incident occurred while he was returning from a shrine that he often visited was allegedly found to be incorrect after the NIA questioned the dargah’s caretaker, Somraj, who told the sleuths that the officer had visited the place that day for the first time.