A protest against Padder’s killing. (PTI)

Sumbal (Baramulla), Feb. 1: Ghulam Rasool Padder stood near the grave, his trembling feet barely able to carry his slight frame.

Clutching his last straw of hope, the 65-year-old watched as the grave, presumed to be of his son Abdul Rahman Padder, was being dug up.

A glimpse at the body and Ghulam knew his worst fear had come true. “He is my son,” the old man cried out.

Padder, a 35-year-old carpenter, is believed to have been killed in a fake shootout by police, who passed him off as a Pakistani militant and earned a fat reward.

The body was exhumed today in the presence of senior officers from the police and the civil administration.

Padder ’s body was mutilated, with the right side of his bullet-riddled face damaged beyond recognition. There were also burn marks on the body.

“I recognised him because of his beard and hair. How can they be so cruel? I want them to be hanged,” sobbed Ghulam, who had come from Anantnag’s Larnoo village, around 120 km from here.

“We conducted the post-mortem in the presence of a magistrate,” said Farooq Ahmad, DIG, central Kashmir.

Two forensic experts from Chandigarh collected the tissue and blood samples of Padder and his father to see if they match. “It will take us 30 to 40 days to come out with a report,” one of them said.

The DIG said the body “has been handed over to the family and they have taken it to his home village for burial”.

As the exhumation was under way, hundreds of people who had gathered at the grave shouted anti-government slogans and demanded strict punishment for the guilty policemen. The police used batons to disperse the mob.

Two policemen have been arrested and several others detained in connection with the alleged fake encounter. The noose has tightened around some senior officers, including a superintendent of police and a deputy superintendent, whose names cropped up during interrogation of the arrested duo. Police sources said they might be arrested soon.

Ahmad said the police are probing three more cases of disappearances.