The NIA on Friday summoned former Gurdaspur SP Salwinder Singh to appear before it in New Delhi on Monday for detailed questioning in the Pathankot airbase attack case in the wake of inconsistencies in his statements.
The NIA has registered three cases here in connection with the Pathankot attack.
The agency may put him to polygraph test after seeking his consent, the sources said, adding he may be arrested if he does not cooperate during the investigation. His custodial interrogation could unravel the nexus between the local police, border guarding forces, the drug smuggling syndicate and the jehadis, the sources said.
Salwinder was reportedly abducted while riding a personal vehicle which was hijacked and later used by the terrorists on the night of December 31.
“Salwinder Singh has been summoned to NIA Headq-uarters on Monday, January 11, for questioning in connection with the investigation,” the NIA said in a statement.
There have been a series of contradictions in Salwinder’s version of his abduction
and his visit to a shrine close to the border on that fateful night.
Meanwhile, post-mortem examinations of the bodies of the terrorists were conducted at Pathankot Civil Hospital on Thursday.
Body tissues of the two terrorists charred to death were preserved for DNA sampling.
During the investigations by the NIA, forensic experts have collected DNA samples from the vehicles used by the terrorists and sent them for forensic examination.
The forensic experts drafted by the NIA have also lifted footprints suspected to be those of the terrorists from Bamiyal village in the border area and from within the Air Force Station. These have been sent to Central Forensic Science lab (CFSl), Chandigarh for examination.
Analysis of the footprints picked up from a field near Bamiyal village on Indo-Pak border as well as from the scene of crime at the airbase would be matched and help in understanding the route used by the terrorists.
The agency has also seized all the arms and ammunitions used by the terrorists. These include AK series rifles, pistols, grenades and assorted ammunition. The agency has also seized other articles found on the bodies of the terrorists and from the crime scene suspected to be belonging to the terrorists. These include food articles and medicines carried by the terrorists.
The agency is also conducting searches at airbase to recover any evidence left behind by the terrorists.
Four NIA teams are camping in three districts of Punjab, including Gurdaspur and Pathankot to verify the facts and examine witnesses in close cooperation with Punjab Police. The teams are seeking to collect evidence related to the audacious terror strike on the IAF base of Pathakot during intervening night of January 1 and 2.
The agency has also sought the call details record (CDR) of Ikagar Singh, the taxi driver who was killed by the terrorists. It has also sought the location of mobile towers through which the signals for those calls were routed. The sleuths are also tracking his antecedents.
Meanwhile, NIA Director General Sharad Kumar called on Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh and gave him a detailed briefing on the investigations carried out so far. Kumar has himself visited Pathankot to get a firsthand understanding of the encounter and the lines of probe undertaken by his subordinates.