Chandigarh CFSL burns midnight oil, nails slain terrorists' link with Pahalgam

Hindustan Times

30-07-2025

It was around 10 pm (Monday) when the Chandigarh Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) director Dr Sukhminder Kaur received an important call from power corridors in New Delhi. She was told to assemble her 'A-Team'. The assignment was big. A package was arriving from Srinagar on a special flight that would land around midnight. On board were weapons seized from three terrorists gunned down in the Dachigam encounter. The job was clear: Find out a link between the slain terrorists and the Pahalgam attack. An image showing arms, ammunition and other items recovered during Operation Mahadev. (PTI)
What followed was a night of frenetic activity which saw forensic experts working against the clock, test-firing weapons, examining ammunition and analysing ballistic evidence. At the crack of dawn, around 4.45 am, they were ready with the report, clearly establishing that the weapons recovered from the three slain terrorists were the same that were used in the April 22 dastardly attack that left 25 terrorists and a local dead.
Hours later, Union home minister Amit Shah announced in the Lok Sabha: 'Three terrorists, Suleman alias Faizal, Afghani and Jibran, were eliminated in the Operation Mahadev conducted in Jammu and Kashmir's Dachigam forest. While Suleman was an A-category commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, Afghani was also an A-category LeT terrorist. Jibran, too, was a notorious and wanted terrorist. All three involved in the killing of our citizens at Baisaran valley in Pahalgam have now been eliminated.'
Shah informed the House that weapons recovered during Operation Mahadev have been ballistically matched with those used in the Pahalgam firing incident, establishing a direct link between the slain terrorists and the mass killing.
'I have the ballistic report, which has been cross-verified by six senior experts. They confirmed on a video call at 4.46 am today that the rifles recovered from the terrorists are the same weapons used in the Pahalgam attack,' Shah said.
'Three firearms were recovered from the slain terrorists: An M4 rifle and two AK-47s. These were promptly sent to CFSL Chandigarh, where a dedicated four-member forensic team along with Directorate of Forensic Science Services, under the home ministry, conducted ballistic matching tests,' said a forensic expert, involved in the analysis. 'Experts in Chandigarh performed test-firing of the seized weapons to obtain cartridge cases, which were then compared with the ballistic evidence collected from the April 22 Pahalgam attack site. The bullets and cartridges recovered earlier had been preserved and catalogued for forensic analysis,' added the expert.
Each firearm, as the CFSL expert emphasised, has distinctive characteristics. Even two weapons of the same make and calibre leave different microscopic marks on bullets and cartridge cases due to differences in manufacturing and wear & tear. These unique patterns act like fingerprints for the firearm.
'When a gun is fired, burning gunpowder creates gas pressure, which forces the bullet through the barrel. As the bullet travels, the barrel's rifling (spiral grooves) leaves microscopic scratch marks. Meanwhile, the cartridge case picks up marks from various internal parts of the firearm such as the firing pin, breech face, extractor, ejector, and chamber,' he added.
As part of the forensic examination, the recovered firearms were subjected to test firing. The weapons were loaded with appropriate ammunition and fired in a controlled environment to obtain test cartridge cases. Using a comparison microscope, CFSL experts placed the test-fired cartridge cases side-by-side with those recovered from the Pahalgam crime scene. A successful match was established, confirming that the same weapons were used in both incidents. 'The test cartridge cases matched perfectly with those recovered from the Pahalgam site. This is conclusive proof,' said another senior forensic scientist.
'Earlier forensic examination had suggested that three firearms had been used in Pahalgam attack, indicating the use of multiple firearms. The recovery of the M4 and two AK-47 rifles aligns with that finding. The cartridge cases, through headstamp markings and dimensional analysis, helped identify the type of ammunition used, adding another layer of confirmation to the weapons' origin,' shared the expert.