DNA tests on 15 bodies fail to identify Yadav

JAWAHAR BAGH VIOLENCE

DNA TESTS on 15 charred bodies recovered after the violence at Mathura’s Jawahar Bagh, which claimed 29 lives, have failed to identify the body of Ram Vriksha Yadav, the main accused in the case. Samples taken from a body, which police had claimed to be Yadav’s, did not match samples taken from his sons.

At present, the Uttar Pradesh government’s Forensic Science Laboratory in Lucknow is conducting DNA tests on seven more bodies that were recovered after the violence and were burnt beyond recognition.

Objecting to the police declaring Yadav dead after his aides identified a body as his, a local court had ordered DNA tests to ascertain that he died in the violence.

On June 2, 2016, 3000-odd armed followers of Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah, led by Yadav, attacked a police team that went to evict them from Jawahar Bagh in Mathura. Yadav and his followershadencroachedonthe area and had been living there for two years.

Twenty-nine people, including then SP (City) Mukul Dwivedi and Farah SHO Santosh Yadav, were killed in the violence. Many of the victims were charred after some LPG cylinders went off during the clash.

SHO of Sadar Bazar police station in Mathura, Tasleem Ahmed Rizvi, said police had sent samples from the body, believed to be Yadav’s, for the DNA test in January. “Samples taken from Yadav’s sons Ram Narayan and Vivek had been dispatched. Since the test failed, we have sent samples from another 21 bodies,” he added.

When contacted, Dr S B Upadhyay, director of the forensic laboratory in Lucknow, said: “Among all the bodies recovered from Jawahar Bagh, we have performed DNA tests on 15. None of these matched the samples from Ram Vriksha Yadav’s sons.”

“Initially, a DNA test was conducted on the body which police had claimed to be Yadav’s. It did not match the samples from Yadav’s sons. We then asked for samples from the remaining bodies. The process is on,” he said.

The CBI team investigating the case will visit the laboratory next week to collect reports of the tests performed so far. They are also likely to collect samples from the bodies and those of Yadav’s sons to conduct further tests at another laboratory.

On June 2, 2016, armed followers of Swadhin Bharat Vidhik Satyagrah attacked a police team that went to evict them