Rape And Murder Cover-Up' Cops Arrested

'Rape And Murder Cover-Up' Cops Arrested

Four police officers in India-administered Kashmir have been arrested for allegedly destroying evidence about the rape and murder of two women.

During angry protests on July 3 over the rapes and murders

Among those detained was the police chief of Shopian town, where the crimes took place.

The bodies of a 17-year-old girl and her 22-year-old sister-in-law were discovered in a stream on May 30.

Police initially said they drowned, but later acknowledged the victims had both been raped and murdered.

The case triggered widespread anti-India protests in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley.

Demonstrators accused the security forces of being directly involved in the women's deaths.

In Shopian, protest organisers welcomed the arrests and called off a 47-day strike that had closed down the town's shops, schools, offices and banks.

Kashmir's high court ordered DNA tests to be conducted on the four to see if they match semen samples recovered from the victims.

The court order came days after a judicial probe into the case concluded the officers and a forensic expert not only failed to discharge their duties but also destroyed important evidence.

Anti-India sentiments run deep in the Kashmir valley, where the majority of residents want independence for the Himalayan region.

It is in the grip of a nearly 20-year insurgency that has left more than 47,000 people dead by official count.