Govt sends DNA to verify 39th body

New Delhi: In order to conclusively verify the identity of the body suspected to be that of the 39th missing Indian in Iraq — Raju Kumar Yadav from Bihar---the Government has now sent a second DNA sample of Yadav's brother to the Iraqi Capital Baghdad. The Government had recently confirmed the deaths of 38 of Mr Yadav's co-workers who were massacred earlier by terror group ISIS near the Iraqi city of Mosul when it was under ISIS occupation. However, the DNA sample of the body suspected to be that of Mr Yadav had matched "70 percent" with that of a sample of one of his relatives in the absence of his parents. That is why the Government had not confirmed Mr Yadav's death when it had confirmed the deaths of 38 others on March 20. It had then stated that the identification of the 39th victim through DNA testing is “under process”.

“We have sent the DNA sample of his (Yadav's) brother (to Iraq)," top Indian government sources said on Monday. The Martyrs Foundation, an organisation working under the Iraqi Government, had earlier conclusively matched the DNA samples of the 38 other Indians---who had been butchered by the ISIS---with that of their immediate relatives that had been sent by the Indian Government.

The Foundation will now match the second sample sent by the Indian Government for conclusive verification of the 39th victim.

The 39 Indian workers had gone missing in the Iraqi city of Mosul in June, 2014, which was then under ISIS  occupation. After the liberation of Mosul from ISIS control last year, the search had started on the ground for the missing Indians. It was finally confirmed that the Indians, a majority of them from

Punjab, were killed by the ISIS and buried underneath a hillock at Badosh near Mosul. The 39 bodies were recently exhumed after deployment of deep-penetration radars at the hillock which detected their presence following which the DNA samples of 38 bodies fully matched with that of the blood relatives of the missing Indians.