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Shakeel, a 45-year-old farmer from Muzaffarnagar’s Bahadi village, was declared dead after his family identified a charred body as that of him after riots started in September, 2013. Police had then sent his samples for DNA profiling to confirm his identity.
The DNA report received by the Special Investigation Cell (SIC) two days ago, however, has stated that the charred body was not of Shakeel. His DNA has not matched the sample collected from the body that was buried two years ago by Shakeel’s family. Now, in police records, Shakeel’s status has been changed to “missing riot victim”.
On September 8, 2013, the Muzaffarnagar police had recovered the charred body of a man from a field at Laak village — two kilometres away from Shakeel’s house. The body’s vital parts were preserved for DNA profiling as the victim was beyond recognition.
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A few days later, Shakeel’s son Dilshad had claimed that body was that of his father who went missing after the riots started. Dilshad took possession of the body and buried it. He also got a case registered against 22 members of the Jat community at the Fugana police station on charges of dacoity and murder.
The SIC decided to go ahead with DNA profiling after the postmortem report stated that the body belongs to a 25-year-old youth while Shakeel was 45. In June last year, Dilshad’s blood sample was collected and sent to a Hyderabad laboratory for DNA profiling along with preserved parts of the unclaimed body.
When contacted, investigating officer of the case, Inspector Dharampal Tyagi, said the police will again start looking for Shakeel. They will get his photograph published in local newspapers and pamphlets will also be distributed in trains and displayed at railway and bus stations. “We will also seek help from National Crime Record Bureau in tracing him.”
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