Amid tight restrictions, the bodies of two rape-murder victims were exhumed here on Monday in the presence of the district magistrate and senior officers of the Central Bureau of Investigation.
A local court permitted the exhumation. The families of victims, which also gave their consent for the process, were in tears as the graves were opened.
Roads sealed
Scores of police and paramilitary forces were deployed outside the graveyard. All roads leading to the area were sealed and even journalists were not allowed. The police had put up barbed wire around the yard.
District Magistrate A.M. Khandey imposed orders Section 144 (restriction on assembly of people) of the Cr.PC in the area.
A CBI team led by Deputy Inspector-General G.S. Golcha, Mr. Khandey and Superintendent of Police Shahid Meraj Rather were present. The CBI had flown in a team of doctors from the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, to take the samples. The team is headed by T.D. Dogra, head of the forensic medicine and toxicology department.
Sources said 10-15 samples were taken from each body which would be sent for forensic examination.
G.Q. Khan, a local doctor, who was also associated with the process at the suggestion of the victims’ families and the Majlis-e-Mushawarat, the body spearheading the agitation for justice, said, “The exhumation was done in a transparent manner.”
Majlis spokesman Mohammad Shafi Khan also said: “It was transparent, procedural and methodical. We are satisfied with the investigations so far and hope that it will go on like this.” He told The Hindu that the Majlis had full faith in the CBI.
