The National Investigation Agency (NIA) is conducting a polygraph test on Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh in connection with his suspected role in helping the militants during the Pathankot base attack, IANS reports.
The agency will also summon the cook, Madan Gopal, ANI reports.
According to Hindustan Times, the NIA suspects the SP of being less than truthful in his statements to the agency.
Times Now reported earlier that the NIA will not give the Gurdaspur SP a clean chit so fast. The agency will look into why Singh was allegedly carrying three mobile phones (with four SIM cards), and his cook was carrying two handsets.
The questioning is likely to go on till late evening.
Here are the questions the NIA possibly asked Singh.
1. Why did the SP go to the shrine that night especially since he wasn’t a frequent visitor?
2. Why was he in his official car? How did the militants not fathom that he was a cop after seeing the beacon on his car?
3. Why were he and his cook spared?
4. Why was there such a time gap between his release and informing the police control room about the terrorists?
5. Why did his seniors not trust him when he raised the alarm about the militants?
6. How many phones was he carrying on his person?
7. The Gurdaspur SP is allegedly close to Union Minister Harsimrat Kaur’s brother Bikram Singh Majithia. Majithia is facing inquiry on drug trafficking. NIA is also investigating whether Salwinder was duped into assisting the militants under the garb of drug trafficking.
Sources told IANS that Singh was on the agency’s radar since the day it took over the Pathankot terror attack probe from Punjab Police.
On the intervening night of 31 December and 1 January, Singh, Verma and Gopal were abducted when gunmen took the policeman’s official car at gunpoint. They were released soon after though, but the assailants kept the car to enter the Pathankot air base and launched an unprecedented attack.
Since then, the ‘shaken-up’ SP has spoken to the media and tried to clear the air about his encounter with the militants. But his statements about the fateful night don’t seem to add up.
Also read: Pathankot Attack: The Curious Case of Salwinder Singh
The cover story of the Gurdaspur SP could be blown if investigators carefully probe the route that he followed till the point when he was said to have been accosted by the saboteurs.
On-the-ground investigations by The Quint suggest that Salwinder Singh took a longer route to try to reach Gurdaspur after he left the shrine of a peer located at Taloor village though he had taken a shorter route when he drove to it via Kathua in adjoining Jammu and Kashmir.
Read more: Pathankot Attack: The Route SP Salwinder Took Could Blow His Alibi
Pathankot’s Drug Racket: Punjab May Yet Become Another Mexico
Meanwhile, Singh has denied any sort of involvement in the attack.
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