The health authorities in Punjab’s Gurdaspur on Saturday collected DNA samples of the family members of three of the 39 Indians who are missing in Iraq, PTI reported. The deputy commissioner had directed the health department to conduct the DNA tests, Gurdaspur civil surgeon Ram Lal told PTI, adding that the samples will be sent to the forensic laboratory in Hyderabad.

The families of the missing Indians from Amritsar were also asked to come on Saturday to the Government Medical College in the district to provide DNA samples. However, the samples were not collected, and they have been asked to come again on Monday, IANS reported.

“We have no idea why this is being done,” Sarwan Singh, whose brother is among the 39 missing Indians, told IANS. “We have not been told anything. We got a message from the SDM office regarding this.”

“No one from the administration is telling us why the DNA samples are being collected,” another relative said.

In June 2014, it was reported that Islamic State militants had abducted 40 Indian labourers – all them from low-income families in Punjab – from a construction site near Mosul. Among them, 22 were from Amritsar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Kapurthala and Jalandhar in Punjab.

One youth, identified as Harjit Masih, had managed to return to India after he was shot in his feet in 2014 by the Islamic State group. However, there has been no information released about the whereabouts of the remaining 39 Indians.

The Centre has refused to declare the missing people dead until they have concrete evidence. In July, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj had told Parliament that “it was a sin to assume someone was dead without proof”.

India has requested Iraq to investigate the mass graves that were found in Mosul after it was recaptured from the Islamic State on July 9, News18 reported quoting unidentified officials. Iraq has asked for DNA samples to be matched with the remains found in the mass graves, the officials added.