Maharashtra Forensic Science Laboratory clears storeroom of residual samples from old cases

The FSL appears to have come up with a move to ensure that police stations come forward to collect the samples. (representational photo)

THE MAHARASHTRA Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) that was home to several unusual articles, such as cycles, tyres, swords, stones and sticks for the past few years, has finally found a way to clear its storeroom of the “residual samples”. The FSL has asked police stations, which come to collect forensic reports in various cases, to first clear the residual samples from the backyard of the Kalina facility. Once the samples, belonging to the respective police stations are taken away, the report is handed over. The move has yielded some results, with most policemen now collecting samples back, along with reports.

A senior FSL official said the 10 storage rooms attached to the several departments of the FSL building at Kalina are completely out of space to keep new samples.

The reason was that the police would collect forensic reports but fail to take back the samples that had been provided for the tests. They would only take the samples when the matter came up as evidence at the trial stage. The FSL would send reminder letters to police stations in the past but that did not seem to work. “In most of these cases, the investigating officer of the case has moved on to another police station and no one bothers to collect the samples till it is needed during trial,” an official from the FSL said.

Since earlier this year, however, the FSL appears to have come up with a move to ensure that police stations come forward to collect the samples. An official said: “First, we made a chart of the police stations from where the samples had been submitted to the FSL. Once we knew the police stations that had to collect the samples, we waited for them to submit samples in other cases. When they came for the report, we would first hand over a list of samples from the respective police station that were yet to be collected. We also told them to collect the samples first after which the report was handed over to them.”

Several police stations started collecting samples after that. “In fact, in some cases, officers from the police station came forward on their own and collected the samples that were with us,” an official said. Director General (Legal & Technical) S P Yadav said: “The lab was flooded with residual samples. Once you send the test report, the samples were not collected. We have cleared most of the useless samples that were lying with the laboratory for years.”