The police say Aadil Mushtaq had taken Rs 5 lakh from the terror accused.
A Deputy Superintendent of Jammu and Kashmir Police has been arrested for alleged links with a terror operative. Sheikh Aadil Mushtaq is accused of helping a terror operative to evade arrest and attempting to implicate a police officer who was investigating him. The officer was arrested on multiple charges including corruption. He was produced before a magistrate in Srinagar who sent him to police custody for six days.
Sources say phone analysis of the terror accused arrested in July has revealed that Aadil Mushtaq was in constant touch with him. He allegedly guided him on how to circumvent law.
According to a senior officer, Aadil Mushtaq used to talk and chat with the accused on telegram app. "There are at least 40 calls between the terror accused and the Deputy Superintendent. He was guiding him how to evade arrest and get legal aid," said an officer supervising the investigation.
He said the police have made a watertight case against the officer based on technical evidence and money trail. "There are clinching evidences on how he was helping the terror accused. Aadil even tried to implicate a police officer who was investigating the case of terror funding," the officer said.
"The Deputy Superintendent had even drafted a false complaint on behalf of a terror accused to implicate the investigation officer in a terror funding case, in which three accused were arrested in February and one was on the run," he added.
The police say Aadil Mushtaq had taken Rs 5 lakh from the accused. He was also in close touch with Muzamil Zahoor, who had opened a bank account on forged documents in Sopore to manage Lashkar finances, an officer said.
"Just four days before Muzamil Zahoor was arrested in July, he filed complaints against a police officer investigating the terror funding case. Investigations have found that all complaints were drafted by the Deputy Superintendent," the officer said.
In February, Srinagar police arrested three Lashkar operatives and recovered Rs 31 lakh in cash from them. Based on their confession, the police started looking for Muzamil Zahoor, who managed to evade law with the help of Aadil Mushtaq, said an officer.
Sources said several people are now coming forward with their complaints against the arrested officer. "There are also complaints of extortion and blackmail against him. All such complaints are being investigated," the officer said.
This is the second such case in the last three years, when a high-ranking officer was arrested for alleged links with terrorists. In 2020, Davinder Singh, another Deputy Superintendent of Police, was arrested for allegedly harboring and transporting two Hizbul mujahideen terrorists to Delhi. Singh, who faces terror charges, is in jail.
Ironically, Sheikh Aadil was one of the poster boys of the J&K Police for several years. Sources say that under the garb of public service and pseudo-nationalism, he was running an extortion racket. "In the past, he was accused of extortion and blackmail, but he managed to get away with it," said one officer.
During his tenure as Sub-Divisional Police Officer (SDPO) at Gurez along the Line of Control (LOC), the officer is facing allegations of helping a thief who stole a flock of 200 sheep. After two policemen, including the investigating officer in the theft case, deposed before the court, Aadil is also facing contempt of court charges.
A five-member Special Investigation Team has been formed to investigate the case against Aadil Mushtaq, the police said.