Cops look forward to faster probes with new forensic lab in Ludhiana

LUDHIANA: Police data puts Ludhiana police commissionerate at number 2 slot with respect to forensic cases. Ludhiana range also got its own digital forensic laboratory in Sarabha Nagar, which was inaugurated on Saturday.
City police had been sending devices and evidence to the state-level laboratory, DITAC (Digital Investigation Training and Analysis Centre) in Mohali, where cases from across the state are sent. The forensic reports used to take two to four months, which caused a delay in investigation and justice. With a separate lab in the city, forensic experts expect to get details in merely seven to 10 days.
Ludhiana police commissioner Mandeep Singh Sidhu inaugurated the lab on the first floor of the Sarabha Nagar police station. The forensic team has also been provided with the latest equipment. An official said that the equipment provided to the team is similar to the equipment available in the state lab.
CP Sidhu said, "Forensic examination is required for all cyber fraud and IT Act cases in which any device is used, be it a mobile, laptop, computer, hard disk etc. Most of the districts send devices and evidence to the Mohali-based lab for forensic examination. The reports take a long time due to the backlog there. The Ludhiana range forensic lab, will deal with cases of Ludhiana Rural, Khanna, Nawanshahr district and Government Railway Police (GRP), Special Task Force (STF) units besides Ludhiana commissionerate." He added that the forensic team is well qualified and was trained in Hyderabad.
On an average, Ludhiana police commissionerate receives over 300 complaints related to various kinds of cyber fraud cases. In some of the cases, the cyber cell requires forensic examination of the devices, especially in cases in which some data has to be retrieved from the device.
Inspector Jatinder Singh will be in-charge of the forensic lab, which will be monitored by ACP Cyber Cell Raj Kumar and ADCP Rupinder Kaur Bhatti.
Abetment to suicide case
On July 21, 2022, division number 6 police lodged an FIR of abetment to suicide in a case dating back to October 2020. Police claimed that the FIR was lodged as soon as they received forensic examination report of the suicide note. Raju Gupta, 45, a resident of Kabir Nagar, Daba Road, who used to run a grocery store, hanged himself in his house on October 3, 2020.
He was rushed to the hospital, where he succumbed on October 5, 2020. Police proceeded with Section 174 of the CrPC on October 6, 2020. On October 8, 2020, the family found a suicide note from the house in which Raju named the accused for forcing him to take the extreme step.
The police had lodged an FIR under sections 306 (abetment to suicide) of the IPC on July 21, 2022. ASI Kapil Kumar said that the police had sent the suicide note for forensic examination to ascertain whether Raju had written it as the police suspected the family of forging the suicide note. Police registered a case against seven accused as soon as the forensic report was received.