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| Shopian rape-murder | | 23-member CBI team arrives Srinagar today | | Doctors, FSL officials under scanner for fudging of vaginal smear slides
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Sep 16: Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has constituted a special team to investigate hitherto blind case of alleged rape and murder of two young women in Shopian. Headed by an officer of the rank of DIG, 23-member CBI team would be arriving in the summer capital on Thursday to start the challenging task of investigating circumstances that led to alleged rape and murder of 25-year-old Neelofar Jan and 17-year-old Asiya Jan during the night intervening May 29th and May 30th this year.
CBI’s responsibility would include identification of the people involved in alleged rape-cum-murder besides those who had fudged the vaginal swab slides of the two victims inspite of continued monitoring of the process of investigation by a Division Bench of Jammu & Kashmir High Court, comprising Chief Justice Barin Ghosh and Justice Mohammad Yaqoob Mir. Sources said that three doctors of J&K Health Department, particularly Dr Nighat Shaheen, as also some officials of Forensic Science Laboratory of J&K Police and those from Department of Forensic Medicine of Government Medical College Srinagar were already under tight scanner.
Highly placed authoritative sources disclosed to Early Times that the CBI team, headed by DIG Mr Golcha, would establish its headquarters at J&K Police Officers Guesthouse at Humhama immediately after reaching here by an Indian Airlines flight from New Delhi. One SP, three Dy SP and five Inspectors, led by DIG Golcha, would formally take over the investigation from Jammu & Kashmir Police. Even as much of its work would be done in Shopian and a camp office would also be established at the south Kashmir district headquarters, the CBI team would maintain its headquarters at Humhama.
Sources said that the CBI team would start entire process of investigation afresh after studying the case diaries and the progress, if any, achieved by the much discredited Special Investigating Team (SIT) of J&K Police, headed by IGP Kashmir Farooq Kashmir and DIG Rauf-ul-Hassan. Government of Jammu & Kashmir has lately assigned the investigation to CBI after SIT failed to identify the culprits for nearly three months as also to justify detention of four Police officials on the basis of any material evidence in J&K High Court. Consequently Mr Justice Sunil Hali ordered release of the four officials on bail while raising serious questions with regard to “one track” functioning of the SIT for three months.
SIT had arrested former SP of Shopian, Javed Iqbal Matoo, former Dy SP Rohit Baskotra, former SHO Shopian Inspector Shafeeq Ahmed and Sub Inspector Gazi Abdul Kareem initially for alleged dereliction of duty and destroying evidences related to recovery of the dead bodies, followed by post mortem and other medico-legal formalities. DB of J&K High Court had ordered the arrest of four Police officials on July 15th. Failing to get bail in Supreme Court of India, followed by court of District & Sessions Judge Shopian, Mr Justice Hali granted the detainees relief on 59th day of their detention.
High Court Bar Association, which had filed the PIL seeking monitoring of the investigation by J&K High Court and Government of Jammu & Kashmir, through its Advocate General, Mohammad Ishaq Qadiri, remained both on the single track of opposing the bail in favour of the four Police officials. For its arguments against the four Police officials in Supreme Court of India, state government had also engaged two of the country’s most expensive lawyers in addition to a battery of government advocates.
Turning point in the investigation came late last month when Central Forensic Science Laboratory of CBI reported that the vaginal swab slides of the two ladies had been fudged. Thereafter, legislators in J&K Assembly raised a pandemonium over the fudging and Speaker Mohammad Akbar Lone asked the state government to refer the entire gamut of investigation to CBI after necessary clearance from J&K High Court that had earlier ordered larger composition of SIT and had been monitoring the investigation.
CBI had initially expressed its reservations with regard to taking over the investigation but finally assumed the responsibility on assurances of all the required support from Union Home Minister P Chidambaram and J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.
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