CPI(M) Demands CBI Probe Into Shopian Rape-Murder Case

QUESTIONING the Special Investigation Team (SIT) of Jammu and Kashmir for its alleged failure to detect tampering in forensic evidence in the Shopian double murder and rape case, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) demanded a CBI investigation into it.

However, the CPI(M) said Jammu and Kashmir government can also re-constitute the SIT to include officers with proven experience of handling sensitive cases.

In a statement, CPI(M) state secretary Mohammad Yousuf Targami said it now appears that fabricated slides were presented for DNA examination in the rape and murder case of Neelofar and Asiya.  �Where are the original vaginal swabs taken from the bodies of the two victims?� he asked and said if they have been destroyed, why were they destroyed and by whom.

�Why did the doctors who conducted the post-mortem not send the original swabs to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory in Srinagar as is the usual practice, and instead send slides purported to have been prepared from the swabs which were found to be fabricated.�  Targami said.

Why has the SIT failed to gather further forensic evidence, through the exhumation of bodies, as suggested by the Jammu and Kashmir High Court, he asked and said what efforts were made to convince the families of the victims of the necessity of consenting to this procedure.

Why was the SIT unable to detect the tampering, despite several weeks investigation and the questioning of the accused police officers in custody, Targami asked.

He wanted to know if it was correct that the SIT does not have an officer with proper training in modern forensic investigation, nor experts attached to it for this purpose.

He said there are three possible suspects who may have been involved in creating the fabricated slides�personnel of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, the Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Srinagar, and the doctors who conducted the post-mortem. Any, or a combination of any, may be involved, he alleged and demanded to refer the investigation to an outside agency.

Targami demanded that either the Jammu and Kashmir government re-constitute the SIT to include officers with proven experience of handling sensitive cases or hand over the case to an agency such as the CBI, which has the services of a large pool of officials with experience of modern forensic investigation. There are also officers from Jammu and Kashmir state serving in the organization whose services to assist the investigation may be requested, he said.