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Altaf Dar: the supercop who had single-handedly finished off Hizbul Mujahideen

Catch Team | Updated on: 13 February 2017, 5:45 IST
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The supercop

  • Altaf Ahmad Dar was known for his counter-intelligence operations in Jammu and Kashmir
  • He was credited for finishing off Hizbul Mujahideen from the Valley

The last op

  • Dar had been close to arresting Lashkar commander Abu Qasim several times but didn\'t succeed
  • On 7 October, he readied an ambush with the local SHO and went ahead for a recce
  • Qasim pulled a surprise and killed Dar instead

More in the story

  • How important was Dar for J&K Police
  • Was his last operation ill conceived?

It had been a relentless battle of wits between the 37-year-old vaunted cop and Abu Qasim.

Altaf Ahmad Dar had managed to track down the Jammu and Kashmir commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba several times. But every time Qasim succeeded in giving the police and paramilitary forces the slip.

And eventually he got the better of Dar, the cop credited with eliminating Hizbul Mujahideen in the Valley. A remarkable career was brought to an end on 7 October.

How important Dar was behind the success of counter-insurgency operations in the state has been underscored by the way his death has been celebrated by militants. United Jihad Council, an amalgam of militant outfits operating in Kashmir, said Dar's death was the "biggest success" and cautioned police officers who are a "tool in the hands" of Indian agencies.

"Despite being a Kashmiri, Altaf Dar was aiding Indian agents and was responsible for the custodial killings of hundreds of militants and civilians. Death keeps no calendar. But there is difference in the death of a person who dies for his nation and the one who dies for sake of promotions and money," according to a statement.

The laptop cop

What made Dar so important?

Well, he is credited for killing some 200 militants and counter-intelligence was his forte.

In security and militant circles he was known as 'Altaf laptop': since buying a notebook for his office around a decade ago, Dar had turned it into a tool for gathering counter-intelligence information. Backed by the supplementary technical support, he recorded conversations of militants, tracked them down to the their exact location and then let executing agencies finish their job.

Dar, a graduate, joined the J&K Police as a constable in 1998 and was relatively unknown until 2005. That year, several prisoners escaped from a police station where he was posted as a munshi, and he was attached to the office of SP City South, headed by Mohammad Irshad.

Soon Dar was to work with the Special Investigation Team (SIT) probing non-militancy crimes and Irshad found out his talent for cracking tough cases.

Two cases stood out: The sensational murder of a Asrar Ahmad, a young man from Maisuma Srinagar. Dar fond out he was killed by two close friends over a Delhi-based woman whom they came across on Facebook. Ahmad's killers even participated in his funeral and they had never met the woman in question.

The second was a blind case of a murder of well-known Srinagar-based businessman Nazir Mahajan by his son Zubair.

The SIT was expanded and Dar, a man of quiet disposition, was soon asked to join terror-related cases. In fact, he became to the SIT's anti-militancy operations and earned three out-of-turn promotions in a few years to head his own investigation team.

Altaf Dar was known as 'Altaf Laptop': he used a comp to gather data on militants and track them down

He traced several top militants, including Hizb's operations chiefs Gazi Mishabhuddin and Muzaffar Ahmad Dar, the outfit's spokesman Junaid-ul-Islam and senior commanders Pervez Musharraf and Hanif Khan.

He had also helped the police trap Abdur Rashid Shigan, a constable responsible for executing 13 militant attacks, including the killing of a Deputy SP Abdul Hamid Bhat. Shigan was a spokesman for Kashmir Islamic Movement, a part of Hizbul Mujahideen.

Despite being just a sub-inspector, Dar was assigned an official car, accommodation and an independent office. "He enjoyed all the facilities and privileges of a gazetted police officer," said a police officer. "But he got the toughest militancy-related jobs, and had to track dreaded terrorists".

The end

Qasim had eluded Dar for long. On 7 October, Dar got a tip about the location of Qasim in north Kashmir's Bandipora town and set out to eliminate him with the support of Gazanfar Ahmad, the station house officer of Bandipora. The two apparently had a fool-proof plan.

According to police sources, Dar knew that Qasim would travel in a Tata Mobile. Gazanfar and his party prepared a plan to ambush them and Dar went ahead in his car to identify Qasim's vehicle.

His information turned out to be correct but Qasim was one up on Dar. The terrorist's vehicle came from behind, overtook Dar's car, forcing him to stop. The militants got their chance, showered a volley of bullets on Dar and fled.

The state's security brass was alerted and an Army helicopter was dispatched. Dar was airlifted to the Army Base hospital in Badamibagh, where he succumbed to his injuries.

Was the operation ill-conceived? or did Dar fall for Qasim's bait? The investigation will answer these questions. "We can't say anything now. The investigation will reveal what exactly happened," said a police officer.

What's for sure is that the police and the security forces in the state will miss Dar.

First published: 12 October 2015, 3:34 IST