Delhi to get 14 mobile teams to collect forensic evidence

The new teams will include a photographer, a person to collect all DNA evidence such as semen, blood, saliva samples, and any physical evidence like a gun or a knife.

Delhi’s only forensic science laboratory in Rohini will form 14 district-level crime scene management teams to ensure quick retrieval of forensic evidence and its proper collection and preservation.

Forensic experts looking for evidences inside the campus of fire crackers factory where huge fire broke at Bawana in New Delhi on January 21, 2018. (Arvind Yadav/HT PHOTO)

The teams, one for each district as demarcated by the Delhi police, will be responsible for collecting DNA along with photographic and physical evidences from all crime scenes under their jurisdiction.

“Currently, we have just one team that is stationed at the headquarter in Rohini. They take a lot of time to travel to various crime scenes and can only cover the most important ones, for example, the latest shootout,” said a senior official from the forensic science laboratory.

The new teams will include a photographer, a person to collect all DNA evidence such as semen, blood, saliva samples, and any physical evidence like a gun or a knife. “If needed, a ballistic expert can also be called in by the team if they are dealing with a case of shooting,” the official said.

The evidence collection process is plagued with delay in filing of samples, with putrid samples sometimes reaching the forensics laboratory.

“We have noticed that there is a delay on the part of the Delhi police in filing the samples from crime scenes that they collect. Sometimes the samples lie in the malkhanas for days before being sent to the laboratory. If not stored properly, these samples go bad,” said a senior official from the Delhi government.

The department has already procured four vans for ease of travelling. “The project is in the pipeline and will soon be implemented. It will be a milestone in bringing down the crime rate and establishing the rule of law,” said Deepa Verma, director of the FSL.