The Hindu : Kerala News : CFSL team visits blast site

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Wednesday, Apr 11, 2007
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Kerala

Kerala

CFSL team visits blast site

Staff Reporter

SEARCH FOR CLUES: A team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory attached to the Central Bureau of Investigation, New Delhi, examining the fire site on Moideen Palli Road in Kozhikode on Tuesday. — Photo: S. Ramesh Kurup

Kozhikode: Five days after the massive blaze on Moideen Palli Road in the city, a five-member team of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) attached to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from New Delhi flew down to conduct an on the spot study and ascertain the cause of the incident.

The team comprising CFSL Director S.R. Singh, Principal Scientific Officer and Head of the Department of Physics Rajinder Singh, Senior Scientific Officer (Ballistics Division) N.B. Bardhan and two other experts, N.M. Hashmi and Ravinder Chauhan, held discussions with senior police officials before embarking on their mission. They visited the site of the tragedy in the afternoon.

Samples were collected from the debris. An examination of different spots and buildings on the street were also conducted.

They held preliminary discussion with North Inspector General of Police M.N. Krishnamurthy, Kozhikode City Police Commissioner Balram Kumar Upadhyay and Crime Branch Criminal Investigation Department (CB-CID) Special Investigation Group (SIG) III Superintendent of Police T.P. Mohandas on Tuesday.

The team will be camping in the city for a couple of days for gathering more evidence from the site.

Additional Director General of Police (Crimes) Kundan Singh Jangpangi, who is monitoring the investigations, told The Hindu that the report of the CSFL would be vital in arriving at a final conclusion whether the incident was an accident or sabotage.

The tragedy claimed seven lives, injured over 50 persons and destroyed more than 80 shops on the street on Thursday morning.

Mr. Jangpangi said that he would be holding discussions with the CFSL team before the latter leaves for the national capital. They would be submitting a report on the incident only after carrying out the necessary tests, he said.

Conflicting opinions

Based on their collection of evidences and analysis, the State forensic science experts, Department of Forensic Medicine of Kozhikode Medical College Hospital, team of the Controller of Explosives and the Bomb Disposal Squad of the City Police have given conflicting opinions about what had set off the fire at the wholesale cracker shop.

However, none of them had so far submitted detailed reports about the incident to the investigating team.

The CFSL, established under the Union Ministry of Home, has been in the forefront of providing forensic support services to the various investigating agencies, particularly the CBI, in scientific analysis of exhibits and collection, detection of relevant physical clues from the scenes of crime.

Its scientists are trained in India and abroad and they also use innovative technologies in the field of forensic science.

Equipped with sophisticated equipment, the Ballistics Division of the CFSL handles cases of firearms and explosives.

Its work involves examination of firearms to determine the nature and type of weapons used in the crime and checking of mechanism of the weapon for the evidence of accidental discharge.

Its physics division carries out different examination and also visits the scene of crime. It also undertakes the task of re-construction of the scene of crime on a regular basis.

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