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Journalism of Courage
SHIMLA, JAN 22: The special investigation team, set up for an in-depth probe to resolve the mystery of missing foreigners in the Parbati and Kullu valleys, yesterday submitted its report to the police department, but without reaching at some specific conclusion.
Reliable sources said that the team headed by Deputy Superintendent of Police DSP, CID, Jasbir Pathania, had confirmed disappearance of foreign tourists, nearly 14 in the past four years, but could not find any supporting evidence about their deaths. 8220; We are examining the report and might issue fresh instructions to the team for further investigations in a few cases,8221; Additional Director General of Police A. K Puri told ENS.
8220;Since this had not ever happened in Goa or other tourists states where foreigners normally go for holidays, the issue was bound to get attention,8221; says a member of the foreign team, which visited Kullu last week.
From the facts, which the special investigation team had given in the report, it had become evident that foreign tourists might not be alive and a few of the them had certainly met accidental deaths.
The linkage between foreigners and the infamous charas trade is also not ruled out.
Meanwhile, the Himachal Pradesh Police have handed over the remains of missing Israeli tourists to the Israeli Ambassador, who along with some other officials, had come to Kullu.
The crime branch has decided to send bone samples to the Central Forensic Laboratory for DNA testing. The tests, which Israeli officials conducted on their own, had established that the remains found last year were of missing Israeli nationals. His blood and teeth samples had confirmed their identity.
