DNA samples collected from the victims' bodies and accused have also been allegedly fudged.

The women's team said it was 'deeply concerned' with the investigation going 'nowhere close to identifying the perpetrators of this heinous crime'.

'Two young women were sexually assaulted and murdered and their bodies disposed off in a heavily patrolled area and the administration is claiming that they have been unable to find and prosecute the culprits,' the team said.

Wondering how security forces couldn't see what was happening right under their nose, the group said the crime spot 'lies in the proximity to the district police lines, a paramilitary and an army camp and watch towers and search lights are a part of the landscape'.

'Having visited the spot, the women's team believes that it is clearly not just improbable but virtually impossible that no one saw anything happen.'

The group also met the chief minister who assured that his government was committed to punishing the guilty.

'We strongly condemn that on the pretext of investigation disparaging remarks have been made about the women victims. We fear this case has been dropped into a black hole from which there appears to be no intention of retrieving it,' the statement said.

The group members who visited the valley included well-known historian and author Uma Chakravarty, law researcher Usha Ramanathan, human rights lawyer Vrinda Grover, Kashmir-based journalist Anuradha Bhasin, doctor Ajita and lawyer Seema Misra.