Haryana man’s remains exhumed 4 years after death for DNA test amid murder probe

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In Haryana’s Yamunanagar, the remains of a Muslim man were exhumed for a DNA test nearly four years after his death in a 2021 case linked to an alleged love affair, as police had allegedly destroyed the samples taken in the case

Yamunanagar’s Gandhi Nagar Police Station SHO, Inspector Jagbir Singh, told The Indian Express on Friday that the exhumed remains, along with his mother’s blood samples, were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory (Madhuban) for DNA testing.

As per the report, the move comes after a court order dated September 3, where Yamunanagar District Sessions Judge Danish Gupta said: “It is necessary that further investigation be conducted in the present case by way of conducting the DNA Test of the deceased by comparing… the last remains of the deceased with the blood of his mother.”

The deceased, Mohamad Azim, 29, a resident of Chandpur village and an employee at a chemist shop in Yamunanagar, went missing on January 7, 2021. Nearly a month later, on February 8, his body was recovered from a canal but was initially treated as unclaimed. After being kept at Yamunanagar’s civil hospital for 72 hours, the body was cremated.

The victim’s brother, Mohamad Ashraf, in his complaint, alleged that Azim was killed by the relatives of the woman, who had an affair with him. Based on his complaint, the police then arrested three persons — Sharafat Ali, Israr alias Bhura and Aadil — on February 21, 2021, followed by the arrest of the woman, Asha Rani, on April 11, 2021, on the charges of murder and conspiracy.

Following the interrogation of the arrested accused, Ahraf was quoted by The Indian Express as saying that when the police showed him the body’s photographs, he recognised his brother on the basis of the clothes on the body.

Ashraf told The Indian Express on Wednesday that in an attempt to locate Azim, he had seen at least 10 bodies but could not trace his brother.

Ashraf said he received a phone on January 16, 2021, call from a woman who claimed that Azim was with her. The woman told him that they would return together within a couple of months after solemnising their marriage. However, as per the report, the woman did not let him talk to Azim despite multiple requests, Ashraf said. Ashraf now claims that this was an attempt to mislead him.

A sample collected during the post-mortem was sent to the FSL in Madhuban. On August 31, 2021, the lab attempted a DNA test using a little finger of the deceased and a blood sample from his mother. However, Ashraf was later informed that the test could not be conducted as the finger had decomposed.

On November 17, 2021, the victim’s moved an application before a Yamunanagar court demanding a fresh DNA test, which was allowed vide order dated June 1, 2023. Following which, Ashraf said the then investigating officer did not take any action for about 13 months.

As per the report, he also claimed that the samples taken in the present FIR were destroyed on December 27, 2023.

Ashraf later moved the Punjab and Haryana High Court, demanding departmental action against the officers concerned. On February 5, 2025, Justice Sanjay Vashisth noted that “the conduct of the police seems to be highly doubtful and contemptuous” and directed the DGP to examine the matter. The government subsequently informed the court that action had been taken against two officials.