'Shopian victims' swab samples switched'

In a new twist to the alleged rape and murder of two women in Shopian, a doctor who prepared the vaginal slides of the victims has told the CBI that no samples from the duo had ever been taken.

A doctor who conducted the post-mortems on the two victims admitted to the CBI that she had fabricated the vaginal swabs of the two victims in the Shopian rape-and-murder case.

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A vaginal swab establishes the presence of sperm if a woman has been raped, and can lead to identification of the rapist, if the sample is taken in time and properly. But in this case it is too late, said a pathologist.

The doctor who conducted the second round of post-mortem examinations admitted during questioning that she not prepared the vaginal swabs of Neelofar Jan (22) and her sister-in-law Asiya Jan (17) on May 30, the day their bodies were found.

The gynaecologist admitted that the ‘samples’ she had prepared were from surgical gloves found in her department at the
government hospital in Pulwama, neighbouring Shopian district, the next day.

The CBI sleuths will now be looking at two things after the bodies are exhumed — one, whether there was a wound caused by a sharp-edged weapon Asiya’s forehead and whether there were sperm the ovaries of the victims.

Despite repeated attempts Dr Chilloo could not be contacted. Shafi Khan, vice president and spokesperson of the Shopian Advisory Council that led the agitation for justice to the victims’ families, told HT on the phone, “From Day One, we were suspecting that the police and health department people were trying to hush up the case. Now what’s important is to know why Dr Nighat (Chilloo) did not prepare the samples.”

It is for the CBI to probe whether the doctor was acting on someone’s instructions, Khan said.

“Dr Nighat and many others might have been instrumental in hushing up the case. But the point is that whose instructions was she following after having declared that Asiya had been sexually assaulted?” Khan asked.