Srinagar, Nov 18 (UNI) The mortal remains of two people- Altaf Bhat and Mudassir Gul- killed in the controversial Hyderpora encounter have been exhumed from frontier Kupwara district, top sources said on Thursday.
The bodies will be handed over to their respective families for last rites tonight and the last rites will be attended only by a few relatives.
They said bodies of Bhat and Gul – the two “civilians” were exhumed this evening from Waderbala forest and were shifted in an ambulance to a police installation in Handwara.
Sources said the exhumation was done in the presence of senior civil and police officials.
The exhumation happened on a day when the J & K government ordered a magisterial probe into the Hyderpora shooting on Monday night. On Tuesday police had said that four persons, a Pakistani terrorist and his local associate Mohammad Amir, along with Altaf Bhat and Mudassir Gul — were killed in the operation. Police had claimed that Gul was a militant associate. At least three families have contested the police claim saying they were innocent civilians.
The four bodies were buried at Handwara, some 100 km from Srinagar.
The exhumation came amid rising tension in Kashmir as families of the two civilians killed in the Hyderpora, lawyers and political parties hit the streets demanding justice for the victims and the return of their bodies
