Jammu: Jammu and Kashmir Police has arrested a jail superintendent for alleged involvement in a
conspiracy to kill a man, who was pursuing the high-profile murder case of his nephew Amandeep Singh, the son of a former National Conference legislator.
Superintendent of Udhampur District Jail Mirza Saleem Beig was arrested at Jammu railway station after he arrived from Delhi yesterday, DIG Jammu-Kathua Range Farooq Khan said today.
The conspiracy to kill Sudershan Wazir, who was actively pursuing the case of Amandeep`s murder, was allegedly hatched in Beig`s presence inside Kotbalwal jail, the DIG said, adding, "Even money was paid to the contract killers inside the prison".
The matter came to light after the arrest of an alleged criminal Sunny Baba, who is a member of a gang that had allegedly been hired by the main accused in the Amandeep murder case, Naggar Singh, to kill Wazir.
The son of former National Conference (NC) legislator Dipinder Kour, Amandeep had been allegedly shot by Jatinder Singh alias Raja and Royal Singh in August 2009. "We will interrogate Beig in this regard as we believe that he was monitoring the movement of local contract killers, giving them instructions from inside the jail," he said.
Beig, who is the former superintendent of high-security Kotbalwal jail had allegedly helped the accused
engage contract killers locally and also from Mumbai and Uttar Pradesh, he said, adding the deal with contract killers brought here from Mumbai and UP was struck at Rs 1 crore, with Rs 10-15 lakh paid to them as advance.
"Mobile phones were provided inside the jail besides special treatment to the culprits by the jailer and he was equally involved in hatching a `conspiracy` and arranging professional supari killers to eliminate the businessman vis-a-vis helping in monitoring the killing," the police officer said.
Khan said a team of professional killers were also hired from Mumbai and Varanasi, who made a second attempt to eliminate the close relative of the deceased Amandeep but timely action of the police foiled their bid.
The DIG said more arrests cannot be ruled out. Police have recovered a semi-automatic pistol,
country-made revolver, a German revolver and four live cartridges from Sunny Baba.
Three police officers, including former SSP Jammu, Manohar Singh, are among those who have been arrested by police last year on charges of changing the pistol used in the killing of Amandeep.
Police has also arrested five others including Jatinder`s father Naggar Singh and his two uncles Ujjagar
Singh and Rakesh Singh in the fudging of evidence case.
PTI
