Gujarat mass grave: DNA matches with relatives

AHMEDABAD: A forensic report of the DNA taken from the bodies found from a hidden mass grave has revealed that missing victims of Gujarat's communal violence of 2002 were buried there, police said here on Wednesday.

"At first look, it has been found that the DNA of the samples of the bodies match with the DNA of the relatives," said Rakesh Asthana, the inspector general of the Vadodara range.

The mass grave near Pandarwada village of the Panchmahals district, about 140 km from here, was discovered Dec 27, 2005 by relatives of the those in the village missing since communal violence of March 1, 2002.

They accused police of having buried the victims secretively, even as police accused them of exhuming the bodies illegally.

The Gujarat High Court, acting on a petition from the relatives, had ordered the DNA test to be conducted at Hyderabad's Forensic Science Laboratory and ordered that the process be carried out under the supervision of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

"The copies of the report have been sent to the CBI and to the Gujarat government as per the high court directive," said Asthana.