Police to examine bodies for DNA matching
Umar Rashid
Srinagar, August 11 : Shakeel Ahmad Lone, a resident of Shopian who provided a room on rent basis to the three missing labourers of Rajouri says that on 16th July this year around 3 PM, three persons approached him for accommodation. Lone said that he was reluctant to provide them a room because of the fear of Coronavirus.
He said that the three persons, whom he identified as some labourers from Rajouri, cited a refrence of one of his neighbourers.
Lone further informed Kashmir Despatch that since the three labourers in question used to work in Shopian as he came to know about their whereabouts, he handed over them keys of a room. That evening, Lone said, he saw the three tenants with some tools and essential items.
Lone said that the three poor labourers asked for a bucket and blanket which was provided to them by his family.
According to Lone’s family members who talked to Kashmir Despatch, “He knocked the door of the rented room of the three labourers in the morning but there was no response from inside. “I thought they were sleeping, then I knocked a window which I found was not bolted. When there was no response i opened this window and to my surprise there was no one inside the room.”
A neighbourer of lone while talking to Kashmir Despatch said that army was doing rounds in their area on 17 and the locals didn’t know what was going on in their area.
He said that, “We were not sure about the happenings outside until there was some kind of explosion which later resulted in fire and smoke and the army called us out from our homes and we thought we were dead.”
He further narrated that, “When I reached the spot where the explosion had taken place I saw three bodies in old torn out clothes and shoes. We were just called by the army for identification of these bodies but we couldn’t recognize them. Even if we knew them it was difficult to identify them as their faces were burnt.”
He added that first fire sounds were heard at 2:30 AM and then around 4 AM some gunshorts were also heard and finally at around 7 am there was an explosion. Then army came to our locality asking for a water pumping motor and a bucket, probably to douse the fire.
Meanwhile, police In a statement said that district Police Rajouri have been approached by some families yesterday claiming that their kins had gone to Shopian for labour work and contacted on phone on 17th July. As per families when they didn’t contacted them after 17th July they lodged missing report at PP Peeru on 10/8/2020.
Meanwhile Social media reported that the militants killed in an operation at Shopian on 18/07/2020 are reportedly their kins.
Apropos to our earlier press note regarding the said operation, Police had provided sufficient time for identification of dead bodies at PCR Kashmir Srinagar. However, the dead bodies could not be identified and they were buried in the presence of Magistrate after conducting a post-mortem and lifting DNA samples.
Taking cognizance of the claim by the families and media reports, Shopian Police will examine the claimants and carry out DNA sampling for matching purposes. Besides identification, Police will also investigate all other aspects as per the law in due course of time.
