Retired Chief Medical Officer Ghulam Qadir Sofi, who was charged with misleading investigating agencies in the 2009 ‘Shopian rape-cum-murder case’, was shot at by unidentified gunmen outside his clinic at Pulwama on Sunday. Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Kashmir) Vijay Kumar told The Hindu that Dr. Sofi was rushed to Bone & Joint Hospital, Barzulla, with gunshot wounds on his arm and shoulder. He has been declared out of danger.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) charged Dr. Sofi and five other doctors with involvement in “fudging and fabricating evidences and preparing a false post mortem report” in the alleged rape and murder of two young women in Shopian. After the bodies were recovered in Ranbiara Nallah, an inquiry by a retired judge of the Jammu and Kashmir High Court led to the suspension and arrest of four J&K Police officials including then Shopian Superintendent of Police Javed Iqbal Matoo.
The investigation was subsequently assigned to the CBI after The Hindu reported a mismatch between the purported vaginal swabs of the deceased women. The bodies were exhumed for DNA analysis and other details during which the hymen of the unmarried woman was found “not violated”. The CBI held that neither rape nor murder had been committed on the duo. In December, 2009, as many as 13 persons, including Dr. Sofi, were charged by CBI with misleading the investigators with “fudged and fabricated evidences” and creating a serious law and order situation in the Valley. Five people died and hundreds were injured in the street clashes that kept Kashmir turbulent for about six months.
Later, in March 2010, Dr. Sofi was found to have sexually assaulted a woman at his clinic after a video went viral in the State. He was arrested and lodged in Srinagar Central Jail when charges were established against him and 12 others. After he was released on bail, the undertrial continued his private practice.
