SRINAGAR: The decomposed bodies of two Kashmiri brothers reported missing since Feb 13 along with a third person were found three days apart in a river in J&K’s Kulgam district, around 70km south of Srinagar.
Showkat Ahmad Bajad’s putrefied corpse was discovered on Sunday at Vishaw, close to where his brother Riyaz’s body had been found on March 13, police said.
There is still no trace of Mukhtar Ahmad Awan of Partapora village, a relative of the brothers who had accompanied them to a wedding in the Mir Bazar area of the same district the day all three went missing. The trio worked in a brick kiln.
Investigators said the brothers may have died by suicide, based on forensic expert Dr Azia Manzoor Bhat’s conclusion that the state of Riyaz’s body indicated he drowned. Bhat told reporters in Kulgam that the case “doesn’t look homicidal in nature”.
PDP member Talib Hussain, who was at the site when Showkat’s body was found, accused police of baton-charging mourners when they questioned how investigators arrived at suicide as the cause of death.
“How did they drown in a river when the water level was so low?” Hussain said. “We demand a judicial probe into the case.”
Tribal villagers carried Showkat’s body to the highway and staged a demonstration.
DIG (South Kashmir) Javid Iqbal Matoo said he would investigate allegations of police harassment, but insisted that there was no indication yet of foul play in the deaths. “There are no torture signs on the bodies. Investigators are looking at all possibilities.”
NDRF and SDRF teams are scouring the area for the third missing person.