The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday dismissed two doctors who were involved in conducting the autopsies of two women who were allegedly raped and murdered in Shopian district in 2009, reported PTI.

On May 30, 2009 bodies of two women – a 19-year-old and her 22-year-old sister-in-law – were found in the Rambiara stream of Shopian district. Widespread protests had erupted in Kashmir after their families alleged that they had been raped and murdered by members of the security forces. However, the administration had said that the two had died by drowning.

Doctors Nighat Shaheen Chiloo and Bilal Ahmad Dalal had confirmed sexual assault of the two women in their autopsy report. However, on Thursday, the two doctors were dismissed after authorities said that they “actively worked with Pakistan and hatched a conspiracy with its assets within Kashmir to falsify the post-mortem report”, The Indian Express reported citing unidentified government officials.

In 2009, as the agitation against security forces and the state administration grew, the National Conference government led by Omar Abdullah at the time, had constituted an inquiry commission headed by retired judge Justice Muzaffar Ahmad Jan.

The inquiry report had said that it was impossible for someone to drown in water level of ankle height in the stream where the bodies were recovered, reported the Hindustan Times. It also said that the police officials were guilty of destroying evidence. The report had recommended a fresh investigation in the case.

In August 2009, the Central Bureau of Investigation took over the probe and dismissed the allegations of rape and murder of the two women. In December 2009, the CBI filed a chargesheet against 13 persons, including the two doctors, for “misleading the investigations and fabricating evidence about rape and murder.”

The central agency concluded that women had drowned and cleared the allegations against the security forces.

On Thursday, the General Administration Department of Jammu and Kashmir said that the lieutenant governor was satisfied with the dismissal order of Chiloo, who is a consultant gynaecologist at a sub- district hospital in Budgam, and Dalal, a medical officer at a primary health centre in Shopian, reported The Indian Express.

A government official told the Hindustan Times that the case showed how “Pakistan and its proxies in J&K mobilised their deep assets within several societal and governmental institutions to fabricate a completely false story”.

The official described the post-mortem report as bogus and claimed that the samples used in the autopsy had been replaced “to falsely implicate completely innocent police officers”.