New Delhi: The wait for news of missing Border Road Organisation (BRO) officer Subhan Ali just got longer for his family. The forensic report of the DNA samples sent from an unidentified body found in Pakistan has said they don’t match that of Ali’s parents.
The family had been waiting for a closure for eight months since Ali’s car met with an accident and fell into the Drass river on the Zojila-Kargil-Leh road on 22 June last year.
While the body of his driver, Palwinder Singh, was found 25 km from the accident site within the Indian territory two weeks later, Ali remained missing. Days later, Pakistan informed India that they recovered an unidentified body from the Shingo river close to the LoC on 27 June 2020. Following intervention of the Army Headquarters here, Pakistan handed over DNA samples of the body.
The samples, along with those from Ali’s parents were then sent over to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Chandigarh.
According to the report, the DNA samples did not match, Kargil Superintendent of Police Anayat Ali told ThePrint, adding that Subhan Ali’s family was informed about it.
Ali, 28, an Indian Engineering Services (IES) officer, and his driver Palwinder were returning after an inspection of quarantine centres in Kargil when their car met with the accident.
ThePrint had reported earlier that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh had in a letter to Bahujan Samaj Party MP Danish Ali, on 11 February 2021, said the samples were “in queue” at the CFSL, and that “it may take 3 to 6 months before the report is received”.
The BSP MP from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh had shown an interest in the case and asked the defence minister to ascertain where Ali’s body had disappeared.
Kargil SP Anayat Ali, meanwhile, told ThePrint that the report was collected from the lab in January-end.
“I got posted here recently. I was briefed that an SHO was sent to Chandigarh by the Air Force’s special plane to collect the report. If that had not been done, the report might have reached us by April or May due to bad roads and weather. According to the report, the DNA samples did not match,” he clarified.
Ministry of Defence spokesperson A. Bharat Bhushan Babu told ThePrint Wednesday, “Jammu and Kashmir Police informed the ministry today that they had collected the report.”
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‘We have lost hope’
Sabhan Ali, the elder brother of Subhan Ali, told ThePrint: “I was verbally told 10 days ago that the DNA samples did not match.”
SP Anayat Ali, however, said the elder brother was informed a month ago over the phone.
“In fact, we had sent the copy of the report to the officials concerned at BRO by post. The report was dispatched 25 days ago when Subhan’s brother was informed about the final results,” he said.
ThePrint contacted the BRO officials concerned. One of them said: “We have heard about the report’s results. But we are yet to get the copy of the report. We are waiting.”
Anayat Ali said it might be taking long to reach “due to bad roads”.
“We will be again contacting the officials at the BRO for the same,” he said.
Sabhan Ali said the news about his brother devastated his family.
“I had gone to Leh and Kashmir three times. This has completely devastated my family. When my mother heard about him, she fell down on the ground and broke her arm. My father’s condition has worsened. We have lost hope. At least, we should know if he is dead.”
According to law, a missing person is declared dead only if his or her body is not found for seven years.
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