No evidence found against Punjab SP: NIA

NEW DELHI: National Investigation Agency has cleared from suspicion senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, who was being probed by the NIA in connection with the Pathankot terror strike, after lie-detector and other tests found nothing adverse against him.

Singh, an SP-rank officer, who has been rigorously examined by the agency at its headquarter for the last 15 days, has also undergone a series of scientific tests including the lie-detector test, official sources said.

The searches at various places including his office, residence and native place in Amritsar did not result in the recovery of incriminating documents, they said.

The NIA questioned Singh to ascertain the sequence of events that took place after he was kidnapped on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 by terrorists of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed(JeM).

The SP who had claimed that he was abducted by the group of terrorists who attacked the Pathankot Indian Air Force Base, was under NIA scanner following suspicion that he was part of the drug racket being run in the bordering districts of Pathankot and Gurudaspur, they said.

The kidnappers released Singh and the cook but slit the throat of jeweller Rajesh Verma before dumping him on the road and speeding away which further raised suspicion, they said.

The terrorists carried out a 80-hour long terror strike at the IAF base from the intervening night of January 1 and 2 in which seven security personnel were killed. Four bodies of terrorists belonging to Jaish-e-Mohammed group were recovered.

Two others are believed to have been burnt in the building where they were holed up during the encounter.