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Journalism of Courage
In a case of an alleged love affair in Haryana’s Yamunanagar, dating back to 2021, the remains of a Muslim man were exhumed recently for a DNA test — four years after his death — as police had allegedly destroyed the samples taken in the case.
Yamunanagar’s Gandhi Nagar Police Station SHO, Inspector Jagbir Singh, told The Indian Express on Friday that the exhumed remains, along with his mother’s blood samples, were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (Madhuban) for DNA testing.
This comes after a court order dated September 3, 2025, where Yamunanagar District Sessions Judge Danish Gupta said: “It is necessary that further investigation be conducted in the present case by way of conducting the DNA Test of the deceased by comparing… the last remains of the deceased with the blood of his mother.”
The deceased, Mohamad Azim (29), a Chandpur village resident and an employee at a Yamunanagar chemist shop, went missing on January 7, 2021. His body was recovered from a canal on February 8, a month later, but was initially declared unclaimed. The body was cremated after being kept in Yamunanagar’s civil hospital for 72 hours.
The victim’s brother, Mohamad Ashraf, alleged that Azim was killed on the same day he went missing, by the relatives of the woman who had an affair with him. Based on his complaint, the police then arrested three persons — Sharafat Ali, Israr alias Bhura and Aadil — on February 21, 2021, followed by the arrest of the woman, Asha Rani, on April 11, 2021, on the charges of murder and conspiracy.
Following the interrogation of the arrested accused, Ahraf said when the police showed him the body’s photographs, he recognised his brother on the basis of the clothes on the body.
Ashraf told The Indian Express on Wednesday that in an attempt to locate Azim, he had seen at least 10 bodies but could not trace his brother.
On January 16, 2021, Ashraf said he received a phone call from a woman who claimed that Azim was with her. The woman told him that they would return together within a couple of months after solemnising their marriage. However, the woman did not let him talk to Azim despite multiple requests, Ashraf said. Ashraf now claims that this was an attempt to mislead him.
Thereafter, a sample taken during the post-mortem was sent to FSL, Madhuban. On August 31, 2021, the FSL conducted the DNA test of a little finger of the deceased with the blood sample of his mother. However, Ashraf was informed that the test was impracticable as the finger was decomposed.
On November 17, 2021, Ashraf moved an application before a Yamunanagar court for conducting a fresh DNA test, which was allowed vide order dated June 1, 2023. Following which, Ashraf said the then investigating officer did not take any action for about 13 months.
He also claimed that the samples taken in the present FIR were destroyed on December 27, 2023.
Later, Ashraf approached the Punjab and Haryana High Court seeking departmental action against the responsible officers. On February 5, 2025, HC judge Justice Sanjay Vashisth observed that “the conduct of the police seems to be highly doubtful and contemptuous” and directed the DGP to look into the matter. Later, the government informed the HC that action has been taken against two officials involved in this case.
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