NIA has also summoned Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh claims to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists
New Delhi : Widening the probe in Pathankot terror attack case, the NIA teams on Tuesday visited Samba and Kathua areas of Jammu region where similar strikes had taken place last year and quizzed for the second day a Punjab police officer who was allegedly kidnapped by terrorists hours before the assault on the air base.
They said the agency could spot “glaring” similarities in the modus operandi of the terrorists, who attacked installations in Kathua and Samba and those who mounted the brazen assault on Pathankot IAF base on the intervening night of January one and two this year. Meanwhile, questioning of Salwinder Singh, a superintendent of police rank officer, continued for the second day on Tuesday at the NIA headquarters, with the agency claiming he has been changing statements quite often. NIA has also summoned Somraj, caretaker of Panj Peer Dargah in Punjab, which Singh had claimed to have visited before he was kidnapped by terrorists, who attacked the Pathankot Air Force base hours later.
The shrine is located a few kilometres from Bamiyal, the village from where the terrorists were suspected to have infiltrated India before mounting the attack.
Somraj’s statement that Salwinder Singh had come to the shrine for the first time before the attack and that his jeweller friend Rajesh Verma and his cook Madan Gopal had visited the dargah twice the same day had raised eyebrows as the police officer had earlier claimed he was a regular visitor to the place.
Singh continued to face tough questions from interrogators who have been asking him about various “loop-holes” in his statement given to Punjab Police wherein he had claimed he had been blindfolded by the terrorists who spoke in Hindi, Urdu and Kashmiri languages.
The NIA has already summoned Madan Gopal to its headquarters on Wednesday for questioning. Sources said, if needed, he will be brought face to face with Singh, posted as Assistant Commandant of 75th battalion of Punjab Armed Police after he was removed as SP (headquarters) Gurdaspur.
The terror probe agency has sent his mobile phone to Central Forensic Science Laboratory to ascertain details of calls made from it possibly by the terrorists involved in the 80-hour gun battle with security forces.
