To all appearances, Farooq Ahmad Padroo, a bulky, 6-footer, was working as a Selection Grade Constable at the District Police Lines in Srinagar. But his real business was death. His only motivation—cash and access to power. He began as a constable-driver for lower-rung police officers in Anantnag district. In 1990, when separatist violence emerged, Padroo joined the militants, only to surrender and join the Muslim Mujahideen (MM)—a counter-insurgent group in south Kashmir which worked closely with the Army and the Special Operations Group. There he rose to become a commander and was one of the most feared counter-insurgents and thus a “valuable asset” for the police.

When the counter-insurgent militias came under severe attack for human rights abuses, MM lost the official patronage but a senior police officer facilitated Padroo’s return to the J-K Police. Sources reveal he was not only reinstated but his stints as a militant and counter-insurgent too was “favourably” dealt with. “He was treated as on leave, his past cleared and he was back in uniform,” a police officer said.

Padroo soon became close to a few top J-K police officers who used him as a valuable asset to set up a network of sources, help gather information about militant movements and launch operations. Insiders reveal that it was in Anantnag that Padroo came in contact with former Senior Superintendent of Police Hansraj Parihar who was then heading the Kulgam district police.

When Constable Padroo was transferred to Srinagar, he began to work in collusion with the Ganderbal police, now led by his old friend SSP Parihar. In February last year, he accompanied the Special Operations Group of Ganderbal Police to Srinagar’s Lalchowk area and picked up a roadside scent vendor. Nazir Ahmad Deka was Padroo’s neighbour and no one thought it otherwise when he asked Deka to accompany him in broad daylight. Later, the Ganderbal Police contacted 5 Rashtriya Rifles and Deka was killed in a fake encounter at Wurpash in Ganderbal. Soon, Deka was on the list of people who had mysteriously disappeared. Sources say Padroo was paid by the Ganderbal Police after each successful fake encounter.

Padroo didn’t stop there, though. He approached Deka’s wife, Tasleema, and offered to help her find her missing husband. He accompanied her to police stations in Srinagar where he would keep her waiting outside while he pretended to seek information about Deka. He even demanded money from her, saying he had to bribe the police for leads. Just days before the expose, Tasleema had given him Rs 500.

Padroo’s next victim was another neighbour, Ali Mohammad, a government employee. On March 8 last year, Padroo took him from his village in Kokernag, ostensibly to meet a minister in Srinagar. Instead, Padroo took him to the Ganderbal Police, who drove him to Hari Gunwan Kangan. He was killed in an encounter with the 24 RR and called a Pakistani militant. When Mohammad’s family asked Padroo about his whereabouts, he feigned ignorance. Again, he expressed sympathy with the family and joined in the search. Padroo even made Mohammad’s wife sell her paddy field to fund the search. He once took her to Varanasi, claiming he had got a clue about his whereabouts.

After Mohammad, Padroo lured another neighbour, Ghulam Nabi Wani, who sold old clothes in Srinagar’s Lalchowk. Wani too was killed in a fake encounter, again as a Pakistani militant.

Padroo’s activities were exposed with the disappearance of carpenter Abdul Rehman, who shared Padroo’s family name, in December last year. Padroo had followed the script, but the carpenter’s mobile phone—which was taken by another policeman after his killing —helped the police expose the network.

Padroo, a father of six daughters from two wives, is now behind bars.

But sources say the story doesn’t end with Padroo, his network is yet to be busted. The names of two other policemen have come up—Nisar Ahmad Sheikh alias Ishfaq and Asghar (both from of Soof village in Kokernag area)—have come up during investigation.

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