Despite the presence of six other state forensic science laboratories across the country, the Gandhinagar FSL has turned out to be a popular bet for many an important crime investigation. In fact, in the past two years, this centre has raked in earnings to the tune of Rs 3.70 crores and with newer state-of-the-art equipment in the pipeline, seems Gandhinagar FSL is showing the way to go. Other centres include one each at Kolkata, Pune, Hyderabad, Bhopal, Chandigarh and Guwahati.
Among agencies that approach the Gandhinagar unit for expertise in decoding crime files are Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), Customs XI, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence, NIA, Enforcement Directorate, R.P.F. Post Department and GGST.
“The income is largely generated through in-house testing of cases. Sometimes, our team is called in to collect samples from the scene of crime or maybe, the criminal/collected data is brought over to the unit here,” shared an FSL official.
In the last two years at the FSL, nearly 224 cases approached for technical help with layered voice analysis. The brain electric oscillation signature profiling method led to analysis in as many as 49 cases. As many as 118 cases were cracked by the NARCO analysis method while 142 cases were solved using the Suspect Detection System method. Another 33 cases were studied using polygraphy.
The laboratory has assisted institutions and Central agencies in 998 cases related to narcotic drugs and substance abuse, reporting notably the highest incidences of breach.
On the other hand, Enforcement Directorate sought help from the Gujarat FSL in money laundering cases. “Here we assist with retrieving data from password protected mobile phones or recover deleted files from laptops,” added the official.
In case of being a reference point for the Election Commission, the FSL helps by verifying voter credentials as listed on the voter’s card, in particular by validating the photo used and corroborating it with other identity proofs such as the AADHAR card, PAN or driving licence.
Sharing a recent Kandla Port operation, the senior official briefed how FSL bailed out the deadlock in investigation by retrieving data from a locked mobile phone and helped sleuths trace the suspect from a motorcycle’s registration number listed on the cell phone. The case related to shipment of banned ammunition materials from China.
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