Friday, January 6 2006 09:36 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: The CBI yesterday (Jan 05, 2006) pulled out two more skeletal remains from the Lunavada grave in Gujarat, where victims of post-Godhra communal riots were buried, raising the total number of recoveries so far to 15.

The digging process continued the whole day today during which only two more skeletons were found from the site with the help of municipal workers who had buried the victims after the riots, CBI sources said here today.

A 10-member CBI team headed by a Deputy Inspector General of Police, six forensic experts from AIIMS headed by Dr P D Dogra and two officials from central forensic centres were overseeing the digging process in compliance with the Gujarat High Court's order.

The state police had claimed 20 people had been buried at the site.

The sources said if there was a trace of any further skeletons at the site, the digging would continue.

CBI was directed by the High Court on December 29 to collect skeletal remains from the mass grave in Panchmahal district and ordered these to be sent to the forensic laboratory in Hyderabad for DNA testing.

Meanwhile, the CBI team also began collecting the blood samples of the people who claimed to be the relatives of the victims.

The DNA samples of the skeletal remains would be compared with these blood samples before handing over the skeletal remains, the sources said.

If the samples did not match, the CBI would also attempt them to match with the missing seven victims in the Bilkis Bano rape-cum-massacre case.