With a DNA report confirming that the man killed by troops as Lashkar militant Abu Zahid was in fact Abdul Rahman Padroo, a carpenter, the focus of investigations into the killing of six villagers in fake encounters on Thursday shifted to the Army.

The J-K police have registered a case of abduction and murder against officers of the 13 Rashtriya Rifles. Meanwhile, the Chief Judicial Magistrate issued summons to the Army Brigade Commnder in charge of Sector 3. All three army units, including 13 Rashtriya Rifles, fall under Sector 3 based in Mansbal in north Kashmir.

When contacted the spokesman of the Army’s 15 Corps expressed ignorance about these fresh developments and refused to comment. J-K Police officers say the Army is not co-operating in the investigations into the fake encounter.

Having received today DNA reports of two of the five bodies exhumed earlier this month, police say they have conclusive evidence to go against their own officers and the Army.

It was a missing cellphone of carpenter Abdul Rehman Padroo, who had gone missing, that led to the unearthing of the network of killings in fake encounters.

The J-K Police have already arrested 13 of their own men, including the then Senior Superintendent of Police, Ganderbal, Hansraj Parihar, and his deputy DSP Badur Ram.

On February 1, the J-K Police and a team of experts from Central Forensic Laboratory, Chandigarh, began exhumations for collecting samples for DNA tests.

The first body was exhumed at the Sumbal graveyard and was immediately recognized by Padroo’s father and relatives. Today, the DNA report has confirmed it.

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