Nagaland killings: SIT to present findings before court after receiving forensic reports

People attend a mass funeral of civilians killed by Indian security forces on December 4 after firing on a truck. Pic/AFP

The Special Investigation Team (SIT) constituted by the Nagaland government to probe the killings of 14 civilians by security forces in Mon district on December 4 and 5 last year will submit the final report to the court after receiving the forensic results, a senior official has said.

Nagaland Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) Sandeep Tamgadge, the overall supervisor of the SIT, told reporters here on Thursday that 85 civilians, and 37 security personnel, including 31 army jawans involved in the botched operation, have been examined and the team has visited the spot multiple times.

"The exhibits, soil and blood samples have been sent to Central Forensic Science Laboratories in Guwahati and Hyderabad and their reports are awaited. As soon as we receive those, we will start preparing the final report which will be submitted to the court," he said.

The official said that once the final report is submitted to the court, everyone can access the findings but not before that as it would not be "legally tenable".

"We have worked against time to complete the probe, and we have reached this far. But it would be difficult to say how long the forensic laboratories take, but we have made a special request to them to expedite the scientific analysis considering the sensitivity of the case," he said.

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