The Hindu : New Delhi News : Defence questions authenticity of DNA test in Katara case

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Friday, Apr 18, 2008
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Defence questions authenticity of DNA test in Katara case

Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI: Counsel for Nitish Katara murder case prime accused Vikas Yadav has questioned the authenticity of the test report of the DNA samples of the deceased and his parents.

Vikas Yadav, his cousin Vishal Yadav and another accused are facing prosecution in the case for allegedly kidnapping Nitish Katara, son a senior IAS officer here, and later killing him in Ghazibad in February 2002.

Continuing his final argument before Additional Sessions Judge Ravinder Kaur, counsel K.N. Balagopal alleged that the forensic expert had manipulated the raw data by making hand-written entries. Mr. Balagopal also claimed that the expert had not put his initials on the entries.

Cross-examination

He submitted that the expert, A.K. Sharma, had also admitted his charge of making the entries in his hand during his cross-examination. The All-India Institute of Medical Sciences had sent the samples to the forensic laboratory in Kolkata for their “identification”.

Counsel said Mr. Sharma had also diluted the authenticity of the DNA test report by not providing to him the raw data to cross-check it by feeding it into the genotype software in his own computer as requested by him.

Mr. Sharma had filed only the genotype print-out in the court, not the compact disc (CD) of the genome scan, counsel added.

Submitting that the DNA test report was devoid of any scientific basis, Mr. Balagopal urged the court to reject it.

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