Poonch encounter: Man claims body,DNA sample collected

The DNA sample of the deceased had already been taken and sent to the laboratory.

Six days after the killing of a civilian in a fake encounter in Surankote,a labourer from neighbouring Rajouri district claimed the victim to be his mentally challenged son,driving the local police to collect his DNA sample.

This followed instructions from Poonch Deputy Commissioner Ajit Kumar Sahu as he found certain discrepancies in the physique of the deceased and the person shown in photograph produced by claimant Mohammad Ishaq,a labourer from Saaj near Thanamandi. The DNA sample of the deceased had already been taken and sent to the laboratory.

Sahu said the decision had been taken to drive away fake claimants eyeing ex gratia payable to the victims family from the Centre and the state government.

Story continues below this ad

Ishaq turned up at Surankote police station saying the victim was his eldest son,Mohammad Aslam. Presenting a photograph,the labourer said he had been missing for over a fortnight.

Though the deceaseds face was disfigured beyond recognition,Ishaq could not provide any identification mark over his body,according to a senior police officer.

An unidentified civilian was shot dead at point-blank range allegedly by an Army jawan and an SPO who later passed him off as a Pakistani Lashkar divisional commander,Abu Usman alias Adnan. The police and Army initially claimed the militant commander was killed in a night-long joint operation. Later,as locals refused to bury the body,it turned out that an innocent civilian had been killed.

A third person was arrested who,according to police,supplied a pistol,used to substantiate claims about the victim being a militant.