Singh, who was arrested after found transporting two Hizbul Mujahideen militants to Jammu on January 11, was posted at the Police Lines when three Jaish-e-Mohammad fidayeen staged an attack.
Davinder Singh was present at the police lines in Pulwama that night, sources told , adding that despite not being a member of Special Operation Group (SOG), JK Police's elite anti-militancy wing, he voluntarily took part in the operation. The act won him the Sher-e-Kashmir Police Gallantry Medal, J&K's highest police medal.
A police statement on Tuesday said the gallantry medal was awarded to Singh by the erstwhile J&K state on Independence Day for his participation in countering the fidayeen attack.
Singh, who started his career as a Sub-Inspector in the 1990s, has always been a controversial figure in the police force.
He got an out-of-turn promotion in 1997 and was made an Inspector. In 2003, he was promoted to DSP but was never promoted again.
He served in the SOG for 14 years and in the counter-insurgency wing for another three years.
In 1993, he caught a man with an assignment of cannabis while he was posted at police station Ram Munshi Bagh here. Sources said he not only let off the man but also sold off the cannabis.
A departmental inquiry held him guilty for the act and recommended his dismissal, but a senior officer came to his rescue and his dismissal stopped.
He was also involved in confiscating a truck loaded with dairy products on the Jammu-Srinagar National highway but letting it go without taking any action. "He was a master extortionist but always got away," a source said.
His possible links with militants emerged a few weeks ago after police got a whiff about him transporting a top Hizbul Mujahideen commander Naveed Babu from Shopian to Srinagar.
Sources said he had sheltered Babu at one of his two residences in Srinagar - at Indira Nagar and Sanat Nagar.
He also owns a house in Jammu and a flat in Delhi, sources said.
At the time of his arrest by police led by DIG, South Kashmir Atul Goel on the highway in Kulgam, Singh told the cops that the men in his vehicle were his Personal Security Officials (PSOs), sources say.
"On being quizzed by Goel, Singh told him it was on an operation and ahe has damaged the game," the source said.
During interrogation, Singh has insisted he was carrying out an operation and that "Jammu and Kashmir Police would have come out with flying colours after the operation".
Sources said he had been in touch with Babu for a long time. "Last year he had transported Babu to Jammu and kept him at his home," a source said.
Singh is currently being questioned by a joint team of J&K and Central intelligence agencies.
Sources say Singh needed funds for constructing his mansion near Army 15 Corps Headquarter here.
Police is also investigating the role of the lawyer Irfan who was driving the car and was carrying his passport.
The plan was to help Babu escape to Pakistan, sources said. Irfan, having travelled to Pakistan on multiple occasions, was well versed with procedures to travel to Pakistan.
"Irfan had visited Pakistan five times in the past," a source said. "Irfan's father was also a militant who was killed in an encounter in the 1990s".
( With inputs from IANS )