Forensics of rifles, bullets led to confirming of the Pahalgam attackers identity

NEW DELHI: It was possibly the smallest cargo that a special plane, requisitioned at short notice, may have carried, but which would end up solving one of the most crucial terror investigations of the time.

After three terrorists were killed in a ‘ Operation Mahadev ’ on Monday by the Army, CRPF and J&K police in Dachigam area, the security establishment did not stop at simply getting them identified by family members of the two locals who had provided them food and shelter at their seasonal dhok (hut) near Baisaran, a day before the attack.

Home minister Amit Shah directed the adoption of a more scientific route — a ballistic test at the Central forensic science laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh to match the weapons recovered from the slain terrorists with the cartridge casings recovered from the Pahalgam attack site. The latter had already been tested earlier at the same lab.

The weapons, an M-4 carbine and two AK-47s, were flown from Srinagar to Chandigarh in a special plane on Monday-Tuesday midnight. The forensic/ballistic experts at CFSL burnt the midnight oil, conducting test firings and generating empty shells for comparison.

“The grooves and the markings from the barrels and shells matched perfectly...Six forensic experts confirmed to me on video call at 4.46 am on Tuesday that these were the same rifles used in killing our innocent citizens (in Pahalgam),” Shah shared in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday.