Jammu: Bodies of a teenager and his two relatives were recovered near a waterfall in the higher reaches of Kathua district on Saturday, three days after they were reported missing during a marriage function at their home, officials said.
The bodies of Varun Singh (15) of Dehota, his uncle Yogesh Singh (32) and maternal uncle Darshan Singh (40) were sighted in Ishu Nallah in Malhar area by drones during a joint search operation by police and the Army late this afternoon, the officials said.
The bodies were later retrieved from the scene after a hectic effort as the area is steep, the officials said, adding preliminary investigation ruled out terror angle as there were no visible marks of injury on the bodies. The exact cause of their death would be known only after a postmortem, they said.
The officials said Darshan’s brother Brijesh was getting married and the trio had left in advance for the bride’s home at Lohai Malhar in the Billawar Tehsil at around 5.30 pm on the fateful day.
However, Darshan made the last call to his home around 8.30 pm, informing them that they had lost their way.
As they failed to return home, a search operation by police and the Army was launched to trace them as the area witnessed several terror incidents, including an attack on an Army vehicle that left five soldiers dead, last year.
BJP legislator Satesh Sharma had raised the issue in the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on Friday.
“I want to inform the House about three missing civilians. We seek answers from the government,” Sharma said.
On February 16, bodies of two villagers — Shamsher (37) and Roshan (45) — were found at village Kohag in Billawar and their postmortem revealed they were strangled to death.
