The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : GSR is crucial to cracking of crime Law & order

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 03, 2007
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

GSR is crucial to cracking of crime Law & order

Details like where, when, whom and what places the GSR is collected is equally important, writes Marri Ramu

Gun Shot Residue (GSR) report is crucial evidence to fix the culprits in any offence involving the use of firearms.

If the GSR is found on any person at the scene of offence, the police surmise that the person had fired the shot and the crime is almost detected. But the mysterious case of the death of realtor Prashant Reddy, who was found dead with a gun shot wound in the house of Congress leader K. Keshava Rao’s son K. Venkat Rao, raised new questions. When forensic experts confirmed that GSR deposit was found on Reddy’s hand, everybody construed that he shot himself.

Rao’s confession

Contradicting this deduction, the investigators claimed that Rao confessed to them that he shot Reddy dead. They maintained that GSR got deposited on Reddy’s hand since he tried to stop Rao from firing at him by holding his hands. That is why investigators shall not confine themselves to mere GSR deposit findings but study its pattern and fall at the crime scene, forensic experts say.

In shooting incidents, GSR is deposited directly and can be transferred to other persons or places by casual contact.

Conditions

Climatic conditions like speed and direction of winds at the time of occurrence of the shooting incident affect pattern of GSR distribution . Test firing of the weapon, which was used in the crime, in static conditions would give information about the GSR particle distribution and deposition. If the shooting incident occurred inside a closed room, the possibility of GSR particles falling close to the shooter is high. Similarly, the types, calibre and conditions of the weapons also affect its distribution. Experts opine that the face of the suspect shall be sampled when firearms like rifles or shotguns are used. Test firing had shown that GSR was found on the face of the shooter using a particular type of weapon. Studies have indicated that on a living person the GSR persistence comes down with the passage of time. Hence, how fast the swabs are collected becomes crucial in ascertaining the shooter. Proper documentation of details like from where, when, whom and what places the GSR is collected is equally important. This helps in crime scene reconstruction.

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