By F. Ahmed,
Srinagar, Feb 22 (IANS) He was a carpenter and not a foreign militant, DNA tests conducted by a Chandigarh laboratory said Thursday about a man who was killed by Jammu and Kashmir police in a "fake encounter" last year.

"The DNA matching tests carried out by the forensic lab at Chandigarh have shown positive results in case of Abdul Rehman Paddar. These tests have matched with the samples taken from his relatives," said Farooq Ahmad, deputy inspector general of police, who is heading the team that is probing fake encounters in Kashmir.

Paddar, a carpenter from Larnoo village of Anantnag district, is believed to have been killed in a stage-managed shootout by members of the special operations group (SOG) of Ganderbal in Waskora village Dec 9. He had been reported missing from the Batmaloo locality of Srinagar on Dec 8.

The exhumation of the victim's body was carried out here early this month following investigations into his disappearance by local police that blew the lid off at least five framed 'encounters', police euphemisms for shootouts.

It came out that the personnel of the SOG, Ganderbal, had killed civilians after framing them as foreign guerrillas for medals and money.

DNA samples were taken from the five exhumed bodies and these had been sent to the Central Forensic Laboratory at Chandigarh for DNA matching.

H.R. Parihar, senior superintendent of Police, Ganderbal; Bahadur Ram, deputy superintendent; and four other personnel of the SOG were arrested for their involvement in these fake encounters.

"We shall be presenting the charge-sheet against the accused people shortly in the court of law for their involvement in forced disappearance and subsequent murder of Paddar," Farooq Ahmad said.

"The DNA matching evidence conclusively proves that the slain person had been a local (Kashmir) and not a foreign militant."

The DNA test results for the other four exhumed bodies are still awaited.

"These tests are also expected within a fortnight," police here said.