Over a dozen J&K SSPs punished since 1999

IPS, KPS officers faced charges of murder, tampering with evidence, nexus with contract killers, sexual exploitation, drug smuggling, corruption

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jan 19: 1999-batch IPS officer, Anand Jain, who was removed on January 12^th as SSP of Jammu and posted Commandant of an IRP battalion in J&K Armed Police on account of the leakage of a confidential communication to media, is not one-odd officer of the Police force punished in the last 13 years. Jain is better placed in the sense that quite a number of IPS and KPS officers in the state are either in jail or out on bail for the last many years while facing serious charges including those of murder and corruption.

Jain had unblemished record of previously working as SSP of Rajouri, Reasi and Baramulla, besides having worked as SP East in Srinagar for around five years. An inquiry conducted by Principal Secretary Home, B R Sharma, held him guilty of carelessness in the leakage that embarrassed a Cabinet Minister in a matter of alleged land grabbing in Jammu.

Jain’s immediate predecessor and year 2000 batch IPS officer Basant Kumar Rath, was unceremoniously removed as SSP in State Vigilance Organisation and attached on November 24^th, 2011, when mysterious sources posted a video clipping of the custodial interrogation of an under-trial, Choudhary Nagar Singh, on YouTube. KPS officer of batch 1999, Mubasir Latifi, then posted as SP of Kulgam, was also attached to Police headquarters in the same matter on the same day. Rath and Latifi were identified among the officers interrogating Nagar Singh and purportedly using abusive language against certain politicians. While as Rath functioned as SSP Jammu, Latifi was associated with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) when he was posted as SP Ramban in 2010-11, the period in question.

Rath’s immediate predecessor and KPS officer of 1984/1991, Manohar Singh, was removed as SSP of Jammu, suspended and arrested in September 2009 on the charge of tampering with evidence in a high profile murder case. He was accused of his involvement in facilitating change of weapon of assault in the murder of Amandeep Singh, son of a former female MLC, and thus trying to protect the main accused, Jatinder Singh alias Raja---leading businessman Nagar Singh’s son. Those who were suspended and arrested in the same post-murder crime and have been in jail for the last about two-and-a-half years include then SHO Gandhi Nagar, Inspector Sultan Mirza, Investigating Officer, Sub Inspector Satnam Singh, and FSL official Sarwar Hussain Bukhari.

Manohar Singh, Sultan Mirza, Satnam Singh, Sarwar Bukhari, Basant Rath and Mubasir Latifi are not the only Police officials who have been consumed by this high profile murder case. Superintendent of Udhampur Jail, Mirza Saleem Beg, was arrested on March 24^th, 2011, on the charge of facilitating the under-trial Nagar Singh’s conversations and communications with some alleged ‘supari killers’, reportedly hired from within the Kot Bhalwal Jail for eliminating witnesses in Amandeep Singh murder case. Previously posted as Superintendent of Kot Bhalwal Jail in Jammu, Mirza Saleem has been in jail since March 2011 and facing charges of corruption and criminal involvement. His rank is equivalent to that of SP in J&K Police.

Name of yet another former SSP of Jammu was seriously mentioned by men of consequence in politics, business and bureaucracy in J&K in the infamous Chopra murder case investigation. However, he escaped the successive governments’ action, mainly due to his central deputation and posting in National Investigation Agency (NIA).

In 2011 again, Government ordered removal and attachment of 2003-batch IPS officer and SP Reasi, Keshav Ram, additional SP Anita Sharma and Dy SP Mohammad Aslam Choudhary on December 11^th when a verbal altercation in public took place between Anita and Aslam at a National Conference (NC) rally, among others addressed by the ruling party supremo  and Union Minister Dr Farooq Abdullah. Son of an Udhampur-based NC leader, Ch Aslam had reportedly objected to the traffic restrictions put in place by the female KPS officer in the movement of people towards Dr Abdullah’s public meeting. As the two junior officers were attached for publicly violating the service conduct rules, IPS officer was charged with his failure of command and control. Departmental inquiry is reportedly underway in this matter.

However, NC’s Rajya Sabha member, Ghulam Nabi Rattanpuri, has not succeeding in forcing action against 2006-batch IPS officer and SSP of Pulwama, Amit Kumar, in the last several months. The young IPS officer and the NC MP have been at daggers drawn leveling charges of arrogance and ‘shielding criminal elements’ against each other. When the MP’s media statements did not work and everybody from Chief Minister to DGP remained unmoved, Rattanpuri moved a privilege motion in Rajya Sabya against the SSP, DGP and Chief Secretary Madhav Lal. Proceedings of the motion are in progress as notices have been served on the respondents.

 [To be concluded]