Why LCN DNA test could not be done

Email communications between the Talwars, the CBI and forensic experts in India and abroad, accessed by HT, intimate that the family had persistently vouched for the use of advanced techniques like the Low Copy Number (LCN-DNA) over the exhibits recovered from the scene of crime.

Email communications between the Talwars, the CBI and forensic experts in India and abroad, accessed by HT, intimate that the family had persistently vouched for the use of advanced techniques like the Low Copy Number (LCN-DNA) over the exhibits recovered from the scene of crime. With the LCN-DNA test, it is possible to obtain DNA evidence from items which were touched by someone even after years. In these emails, the Talwars had also proposed at least five labs in Canada, UK and the US.

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The CBI counsels told HT that the experts and forensic labs have ruled out the possibility of LCN-DNA at this stage as the exhibits were already contaminated. Before the court, the CBI said that the exhibits had been sent to laboratories, including those identified by Rajesh. "Of the four labs, three showed their inability to conduct the test. The fourth lab belonging to James Clery was 'not accredited' by Interpol," CBI counsel RK Saini said. He also said that the LCN test depends on uncontaminated collection of the DNA, clearly not the case here.