How agencies are keeping a close tab and busting govt officials with terror links

New Delhi, Feb 19: The National Investigation Agency arrested its former Superintendent of Police and IPS officer Arvind Digvijay Negi on the ground that he was leaking secret documents to the Lashkar-e-Tayiba.

The case was registered by the NIA in November last year and it pertains to the spread of the network of the over ground workers of the Lashkar-e-Tayiba. Earlier six persons had been arrested by the agency in connection with the case.

Similar incidents have taken place in Jammu and Kashmir recently. Officials tell OneIndia that while such activities have been taking place for long, the security agencies have now started closely monitoring the situation as a result of which such elements are being arrested.

In November last year a senior prison officer and a school principal were sacked for working with terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir. After investigation suggested that these persons had terror links, Deputy Superintendent of Jails in the Union Territory, Feroz Ahmad Lone, and government school principal Javid Ahmad Shah were sacked. In October last year the J&K government sacked six of its employees for having terror links. Two among those dismissed were police constables.

The probe revealed that Lone was working with Riyaz Naikoo, a terrorist of the Hizbul Mujahideen who was recently shot dead by security forces. He is alleged to have helped the terrorists gain access to the prison and meet with another terrorist who was arrested.

A close watch is kept on these government officials, especially those who are working in the jail administration. The jails in Jammu and Kashmir have over the years become breeding grounds and radicalisation takes place in a big way before newer recruits are produced in jails itself, the official cited above said.

These developments come in the wake of the instructions issued by the administration on the periodic character and antecedents verification of government employees.

The instructions said that the general administration department of every employee is mandatorily required to maintain absolute integrity, honesty and allegiance to the Union of India and its Constitution. The instruction also said that the employee shall not do anything unbecoming of a government servant.

The J&K administration took the decision after a designated committee mandated to scrutinise sensitive cases under Article 311 (2) (c) of the Constitution. The committee recommended the removal of the six employees over terror links.

Under this provision, the employee can be sacked of the President or the Governor, as the case may be is satisfied that it is being done under the interest of the security of the state.

It may be recalled that in July last year, the government had dismissed 11 of its employees. They included the sons of Hizbul Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin.