Salwinder Singh aided, abetted Pathankot airbase attack; NIA has sleeper cell on hand

Salwinder Singh, former SP of Gurdaspur district and at present heading an armed battalion in Pathankot, has been detained by the National Investigation Agency and being interrogated for aiding and abetting the attack on Pathankot airbase by Pakistan-originated terrorists on Saturday last. Salwinder Singh claimed, while speaking to the media on Tuesday, that he had in fact informed the higher authorities who allegedly took immediate measures and got the airbase secured against the terror attack. Nobody believed his version because he had little or no time to move the snail-paced bureaucracy that too in a jiffy in the early hours. Corroborating Salwinder's aiding and abetting the deadliest terrorist strike in logistic terms, the Intelligence has intercepted the Pakistani handler's chastising the terrorists for becoming Late Latifs and delaying their entry into Pathankot airbase. The crucial role of Salwinder Singh was to virtually offer his official car with blue beacon lights and sending an official message to the checkposts midway about his coming. In the event, terrorists dressed in Army fatigues got a free passage. Regardless of whether Salwinder Singh had gone to Pathankot to meet a tantric or attend a gurdwara, the fact that his car had enabled godspeed for the terrorists to meet with their appointment of starting hostilities at the airbase at 3.30 a.m. fixes his active role without any room for doubt. It could be that even as the Pakistani handler was fuming and fretting, the sleeper cell was activated. And, in turn, the sleeper cell got the official car of Salwinder Singh, with blue light beacon and all, activated. As the terrorists got into the official Punjab government car, there was no stopping them. They reached the Pathankot airbase and started the storming of the airbase at the appointed time of 3.30 a.m. Meanwhile, Salwinder Singh, his jeweller friend Rajesh and cook Madan Gopal have started another farce even as their game was up. Salwinder and Rajesh are exchanging charges that each had ditched the other. Therein lies enough fodder for the investigating agencies to ferret out the sleeper cell that was the catalyst in the Pathankot airbase attack. Salwinder did not spare his own cook either, charging that Madan Gopal and Rajesh together had ditched him. The NIA is believed to have gathered enough material to charge Salwinder Singh with aiding and abetting the airbase attack by enabling the terrorists to use his official car and get a free passage to the airbase to start the attack at the appointed time of 3.30 a.m.