E-Paper
Decomposed body rekindles hope of closure for missing army soldier’s family
Officials said the decomposed body was beyond recognition, however, some people claim it belonged to the missing soldier.
A decomposed body, believed to be of a Territorial Army (TA) soldier who went missing in August last year, was recovered today from Kulgam.
The body was recovered by the police after some villagers saw a body at Mahmoodpora village on Wednesday morning. Police has taken the body in its possession for DNA testing. Officials said the body is beyond recognition, however, some family members of the missing soldier claim it belonged to the missing soldier.
A senior police officer said DNA testing will reveal the real identity.
Defense spokesman Col Emron Maswavi said he will find out whether the body belongs to missing soldier or not.
Rifleman Shakir Manzoor, a resident of Shopian, had gone missing after his car was stopped by some unidentified people at Rambhama village in Kulgam district in August last year. Soon after the soldier went missing, the army suspected that militants operating in south Kashmir were behind the kidnapping of the 24-year-old soldier who had joined the Army’s 162 TA battalion in 2018 and was associated with 22 sector Rashtriya Rifles.
Officials said the soldier’s car was stopped and then set on fire by unidentified persons and when relatives and police reached near the spot in the evening, he was missing.
Manzoor was on leave when his car was stopped and set on fire.
