Pathankot attack: Binoculars used by terrorists have US Army markings

New Delhi: The NIA will conduct a polygraph test on senior Punjab police officer Salwinder Singh Monday even as another striking similarity between the Dinanagar terror attack in 2015 and the recent Pathankot terror siege has come up in the form of binoculars recovered from the site of encounter with US marking of it raising suspicion of it possibly being stolen US Army property. The recovery appears similar to the night vision device recovered during the probe into the deadly attack at the Dinanagar police station campus in Gurdaspur on July 27, 2015, which apparently belonged to the US Army, lost by its troops in Afghanistan.

“Whether the binoculars could be stolen property of the US Army is being ascertained as it may have been procured in an open market or lost by the troops like the night vision device,” sources said. The serial number will be shared with the US to ascertain where the equipment was lost, the sources said.

However, the recovery of the devices in the twin attacks and the use of Chinese wireless sets points towards a similar modus operandi being employed by the same outfit, which has been targeting security establishments, earlier a police station and now the IAF base in the recent terror attack, sources said.

The NIA, meanwhile, will move an application before a designated court on Saturday seeking permission for conducting a polygraph test on Mr Singh, who has been questioned by the agency over the last one week in connection with Pathankot terror attack probe. Home ministry sources said Mr Singh, who is at posted as assistant commandant with the 75th battalion of the Punjab armed police, was confronted with his cook Madan Gopal and caretaker of Dargah Somraj during his questioning Friday as he has allegedly been changing his statements quite frequently.

Read: Pathankot attack: Pak's joint probe team to seek DNA, fingerprints of terrorists

Pathankot probe: Punjab police officer to undergo lie detector test next week

While no direct role of the Punjab police officer in the attack is emerging far keeping him out of the direct line of suspicion in the terror attack conspiracy, Mr Singh’s statements hold high significance for the probe agency as his car was hijacked by terrorists before they entered the Pathankot IAF base on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1.

“We need to have full clarity on his role before he is given a clean chit or made a witness in the case. The polygraph test is expected to give a clear picture of his involvement,” sources said.

Official sources said Singh, who was shunted barely few days before the January one-two terror strike as Superintendent of Police (headquarters) of Gurdaspur and is facing alleged charges of breach of discipline, has in-principle given his consent for the lie-detector test.

While Singh had told the Punjab police he frequently visited the shrine, Somraj claimed he had seen him for the first time hours before terrorists launched the brazen attack on the Pathankot facility.

Singh had said he was kidnapped by the terrorists after his visit to the shrine and later let off as they did not know his identity.

In the meantime, CFSL has been asked to recover the serial number of AK-47 rifles and revolvers recovered by the NIA after 80-hour long terror strike at the Pathankot IAF base so that the same could be shared with the company to ascertain the country from where it was shipped, the sources said. They said NIA has got a lot of material including clothing, shoes and other material linking them to Pakistan.

The NIA was also studying details of the terror strike at Dina Nagar in Gurdaspur district on July 27 last year .Three heavily-armed militants in army fatigues, believed to have infiltrated from Pakistan, had on July 27 sprayed bullets at a moving bus and stormed a police station in Dinanagar, killing eight people, including a Superintendent of Police before being gunned down. The case is being probed by the Punjab Police.

In the Pathankot terror siege, six terrorists were killed in a counter-operation by Indian forces that lasted for about three days and also claimed the lives of seven security personnel.