Kupwara: The body of a youth, who had gone missing while in the custody of the security forces in December last year, was recovered from forest area in Kupwara after 75 days on Wednesday and handed over to his family.
Abdul Rashid Dar, from Kunan Poshpora area of Kupwara district was picked up by the security forces in December last year who later claimed that he had gone missing from custody.
The body was found in Zurhama forest area today, sources said.
The family sources said that they were informed by police about the recovery of the body and were called for identification of the same.
Following the identification, the body was handed over to the family for last rites.
As the body reached the ancestral village, hundreds of people took to the streets mourning the death and demanding an impartial probe to find out the killers. The locals were insisting that if the deceased had escaped from the custody of security forces, how he was killed, and how his body was located after 75 days.
Meanwhile, the Kupwara police in a statement said that in continuation to the missing of Abdul Rashid Dar of Kunan area of Kupwara on December 16, 2022, today early in the morning a body was recovered from Zurhama -PK Galli forests.
The police said that the body was brought to SDH Kupwara where it was identified by the relatives of a missing person. “After completing all medico-legal formalities including post-mortem by a team of doctors, the dead body was handed over to the family members for burial,” it said.
“Cognisance of the matter has been taken for further investigations,” the police said, adding that further details will be shared.
It may be recalled that on December 22, 2022 Kupwara police had told the media that Dar was detained by the army for questioning in connection with a militancy case and on 15 December, he escaped from the custody of the forces. Police had said that they were investigating under which circumstances he managed to flee.
