Jammu, October 18
Ups and downs in life are inevitable. An officer instrumental in the arrest and surrender of several hardcore militants in Doda district, today shares the same prison with them.
Suspended SSP of Jammu Manohar Singh, who faces charges of fudging evidence in the Amandeep murder case, was once considered an expert in tackling militancy in Doda. However, today he has been kept in a separate block in the Kot Bhalwal prison on the outskirts of the capital city.
This was the same prison from where the 1999 Kandahar hijack mastermind Maulana Masood Azhar, Sheikh Ahmed Omar Saeed and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar were released in lieu of passengers on board an Air India flight.
Manohar, along with suspended Gandhi Nagar SHO Sultan Mirza and IO Satnam Singh, were shifted to the prison on October 10 after CJM YP Bourney remanded them in judicial custody.
Official sources said the prison had four blocks specially meant for undertrials in such cases. Considered to be a specialist in eliminating, arresting and convincing militants to surrender, Manohar Singh, in his capacity as the SSP, Doda, had tactfully applied his expertise to crush militancy, they added.
Since he was instrumental in delivering setback to militancy in Doda, he had been provided special security because of threat perception to his life, sources said.
Prison physician Dr Rakesh Raina examined his physical and mental health on the day he was shifted here and subsequently he was shifted to a separate block, they added.
Sources in the prison confided to The Tribune that the prison still had some militants arrested by him.
However, there was no threat to his life as he had been kept under tight security in a separate block, they added.
Similarly, suspended SHO Sultan Mirza and Sub-Inspector Satnam Singh had been kept in two other blocks. “After proper classification and examination by Dr Rakesh Raina, the SSP and two other officers were kept in separate block. Requisite consideration had been given to their safety,” said a prison official.
