Heads roll as J&K govt acts on Shopian panel report

SRINAGAR: Acting swiftly on the interim report on the Shopian incident, filed by Justice (retd) Muzaffar Jan, the state government on Monday placed under suspension the services of four police official and a senior forensic science laboratory official. An IGP rank officer from the state intelligence has been asked to conduct a thorough enquiry into the entire issue.

The commission is probing the abduction, rape and murder of two women that police initially insisted was a case of drowning. The incident triggered massive unrest in the Valley and a shutdown for eight days in which two persons were killed and around 500 injured.

In its interim report, the commission held these officials responsible for ���destroying evidence���. The officials placed under suspension include SP Javed Iqbal, his deputy Rohit Basgotra, SHO Shafiq Ahmed, and a sub-inspector besides FSL official Javed Iqbal Hafiz. The latter had completed the investigations in the samples sent to the FSL but skipped delivering the opinion for over six days.

It was during this period that chief minister Omar Abdullah upheld the police theory ruling out rape and murder. Now, Farooq Ahmad, an IGP rank officer in state intelligence, will look into the lapses as pointed out by the panel following which a formal FIR will be lodged.

The report has highlighted the inaction by the civil administration, deliberate un-professionalism exhibited by the police and the six days delay in delivering the report of its findings by the FSL. It has also talked of the ineptness that the doctors showed while conducting the autopsies.