Bodies of the three men will be exhumed and handed over to their families in Rajouri district of J&K.
The Army had in July claimed 3 militants were killed in Shopian (Photo sourced by India Today)
In yet another development to the Shopian fake encounter case, the J&K government has decided to exhume bodies of the three men who were killed by the security forces and return them to their families in Rajouri district of J&K.
“Since DNA samples have matched with their families, the three dead bodies will be exhumed and handed over to the families after due process,” said IGP (Kashmir) Vijay Kumar.
Meanwhile, two people have been arrested and were sent to eight days of police remand by a local court on Tuesday.
“We have arrested two persons in connection with the case,” a senior police officer said.
As per reports, the two arrested persons are local collaborators who have been arrested by the police on charges of “criminal conspiracy”. They are both being questioned by the police.
On July 18, security forces killed the three labourers and dubbed them as militants.
The family members of the three men came out and claimed them as their kin. The police took the DNA samples of the families and it has matched with the bodies.
J&K’s Director General of Police (DGP) on Monday said the investigation into the Amshipora-Shopian encounter has entered in the final stage.
Earlier, the Indian Army admitted that powers vested under AFSAPA had been exceeded by its soldiers during the Shopian encounter.
The family members of the three labourers had appealed to the Lieutenant Governor of J&K to look into the matter and urged that the dead bodies should be returned to them.
ALSO READ | Indian Army says troops violated AFSPA rules in Shopian encounter, will face action
ALSO READ | Shopian case: DNA of 3 men killed in encounter matches with their family members