The Hindu : DNA tampering: 5 doctors suspended in J&K

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Mar 20, 2002

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National

DNA tampering: 5 doctors suspended in J&K

JAMMU, MARCH 19. The Jammu and Kashmir Government today suspended five doctors and a police officer, allegedly involved in a controversy surrounding the collection and transportation of samples for DNA tests to ascertain the identities of the five deceased persons killed in an encounter with security forces at Pachalthan-Pathribal in Anantnag district of Kashmir in March, 2000.

The officers will remain under suspension pending completion of inquiry by the one-man Commission headed by G. A. Kuchai, retired judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court.

An official spokesman said the test results of the samples sent for DNA finger-printing to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Kolkata, had been collected by the State police on March 14.

In view of the contradictory reports from the CFSL and the Centre for DNA Finger-printing and Diagnostic Laboratory, Hyderabad, the authorities had urged the two institutions to send their representatives to collect fresh blood samples of the relatives of those killed in the Pachalthan-Pathribal incident.

They had also been asked to collect the controlled samples of the deceased so that no question was raised regarding the collection of samples and the procedure followed, he said.

Pak. concerned

An AFP report from Islamabad said Pakistan expressed ``grave concern'' over the alleged tampering of the DNA samples.

``The Government of Pakistan has noted with grave concern reports in the Indian media that DNA samples... had been tampered with,'' the Pakistan Foreign Office was quoted as saying in a statement. _ PTI

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