Following a tip, India Today’s undercover reporters visited the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Varanasi, headed by its deputy director Suresh Chandra.
Forensic labs falsify reports in exchange for money, India Today TV found (Representational)
By Md Hizbullah, Nitin Jain: Some rogue scientists at some of the country’s top crime labs have been caught on India Today’s camera offering to manipulate forensic reports in exchange for bribes.
Following a tip, India Today’s undercover reporters visited the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Varanasi, headed by its deputy director Suresh Chandra.
Posing as agents of a fictitious murder suspect, the reporters met him twice.
Chandra offered to falsify the forensic report in favour of the man the investigative reporters told him was accused of poisoning his victim.
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CLEANING UP POISON IN FSL REPORT
The FSL chief at Varanasi demanded Rs 10 lakh for cleaning up the poison from record books.
“Let me go through it (the case) tomorrow but seeing it will also cost — a part payment of Rs 10,000 for checking the records, not the full amount yet,” he demanded. “We’ll start the process when the required fee is paid.”
When the reporters met Chandra again at a luxury hotel in Varanasi the next day, the same official of the zone’s main forensic laboratory offered to set up a special team to forge FSL findings of viscera samples.
“The case seems to have many signs of poisoning. The nails and lips (of the body) are blue,” he said. “Signs of poisoning are there. But we’ll put our job at stake. We’ll have to set up a team to do this. At least two to three people.”
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Chandra asked for hard cash to create a team that he claimed would give a clean chit to the suspect in their report. “It will cost 10 (lakh) for (a team of) three people. Their report will be absolutely final. It will be signed off by two-three people. Team work cannot be challenged. It will stand (as valid) even in the Supreme Court,” Chandra boasted.
According to the Varanasi FSL chief, the entire process would take one week. “So it (the payment) has to be received before the result (report),” he said.
TAMPERING WITH DNA SAMPLES
When probed further, Chandra also offered to help manipulate a DNA report at the FSL headquarters in Lucknow in connection with a rape case.
“It will be done,” he claimed.
“But it’s a rape case,” the reporter probed.
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“It will be done,” Chandra repeated. “Take the case details. It will cost as much (Rs 10 lakh). It (the case) should be encashed as soon as possible so that they (the suspects’ family) don’t get in touch with someone else.”
MANIPUTLATING DOWRY DEATH EVIDENCE
In Agra, India Today’s investigative team met Sanjeev Dwivedi, a scientist at the FSL’s biology division in the city.
Asked about the possibility of altering a viscera report in connection with a dowry death by poison, he offered to omit the lethal substance from the official findings if he was paid Rs 2,30,000.
“The poison-laced viscera is already with you,” the reporter told Dwivedi.
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“If you want to negate it, it will be done for Rs 250,000,” Dwivedi said. “We can negotiate Rs 10,000-20,000 but everything is fixed per case here. It will be done, 100 per cent.”
“How do you take the payment?” the reporter asked.
“Advance. The total cost for the job now is Rs 230,000. You have to pay 180,000 now and the rest (50,000) later,” he demanded.
OMITTING ALCOHOL IN DRUNK DRIVING
In Haryana’s Gurugram, Madhup Singh, a senior scientific officer at the FSL, was willing to falsify evidence of alcohol from the samples of a body to help secure insurance claims.
He sought Rs 200,000 for the job.
“Such cases come under me. I investigate toxicity and alcohol cases. Give me the details. It will cost at least Rs two (lakh). It’s about giving a clear report in case it’s (alcohol) positive,” he said.
“You mean two lakh for converting a positive report into negative?” the reporter asked.
“Yes,” Singh replied.
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