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Lack of funds cripple forensic lab

Kalina lab does not have equipment to carry out DNA tests, stalling crucial cases.

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The city’s two most important cases, the Colaba rape case and the Karan Kakkad murder, are seeing a delay in investigations due to the lack of forensic equipment.

Mumbai’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) has been struggling with the lack of necessary equipment — chemicals which are required for the DNA tests. Thus, the Mumbai police are being forced to send their samples to a laboratory in Hyderabad, wasting precious time.

Cuffe Parade and Colaba police have till date sent around 1,000 DNA samples related to the rape and murder cases of minor girls in the area. In return the police have received only 225 DNA reports. FSL officials, citing lack of equipment, have informed the police that they are unable to give the reports of the remaining samples.

Another case where FSL has delayed the investigation process is the Karan Kakkad murder. Kakkad was murdered by Vijay Palande and his associates. Police found the alleged body parts of Kakkad from a ghat near Pune. They had sent these DNA samples to FSL to confirm whether the body parts were Kakkad’s or not.

FSL have informed the police that they do not have enough funds to buy the required chemicals. “They [FSL] told us they have written to the home department and their request for new chemicals has been sanctioned. After they receive a confirmation from the home department, they will buy the chemicals and then only will we get the DNA reports,” said a police officer from the Cuffe Parade police station.

“We didn’t have enough funds to buy the chemicals but now that we have the sanction from the home department, we will be getting the required material for the tests soon,” said an official from the Kalina Forensic Science Laboratory on request of anonymity.

Besides these two cases, there are other cases which have been affected by the failure of the FSL to give the forensic reports on time. Recently, Mumbai police had busted an alleged rave party in Juhu where they found narcotics. Police have sent the blood samples of all those present at the party to check if they had consumed drugs.

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