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With a clutch of agencies picking crucial evidence from the blast sites at will and then not cooperating with others, all the pieces of the puzzle may never be found, say experts IF indications from the way the forensics have been handled immediately after Wednesday's triple blasts are anything to go by, Mumbaikars should not expect investigating agencies to bring the perpetrators to book anytime soon.
Police teams spent hours collecting vital clues and samples
from the blast site at Kabutarkhana in Dadar yesterday
For, forensic investigation into the case has been turned into a vast jigsaw puzzle in which no single agency holds all the pieces. And, say experts, the pieces will not come together because of a severe lack of coordination between agencies both at the local and central level.
"If all the experts of the different scientific teams work in coordination, all the clues gathered by individual agencies can be put together and the methodology of terror operations can be worked out better," said Rukmini Krishnamurthy, former director of the Forensics Science Laboratory (FSL) at Kalina and technical advisor to the Institute of Forensics Science.
Wednesday's post-blast procedure, however, strayed very far from this ideal with a clutch of experts from various agencies including those from the State Forensics Laboratory (Kalina), Central Forensics Science Laboratory (CFSL), Police Bomb Squad, National Security Guard (NSG) and National Investigating Agency (NIA) descending on the blast sites and picking up items crucial to the investigation at will.
A senior scientist from the General Analytical Division at FSL, in fact, admitted, "We collected a few swabs from the crime scene at Dadar but no residues of the explosives could be collected as it was raining and the crime scene was washed out.
The remaining parts had been collected by the police and other investigating agencies. No timing device was found either we believe the police took it."
"By the time we reached (90 minutes after the blast), the bomb squad and police had already picked up crucial items.
We gathered whatever evidence we could find and agencies which reached after us did the same," he said, adding that they weren't even aware that central forensic agencies were getting involved in the investigation.
The scientist replied in the negative when he was asked if they shared the evidence they found with other agencies. And, he said, this was not a malady afflicting the Kalina laboratory alone. None of the scientific agencies, it seems, have any idea what the others collected from the crime scene.
"In accordance with procedures, we have sent the samples we have collected to the investigating police team for them to do a panchnama and know the items we have in our possession. We don't know, however, if other agencies are doing the same," he said.
A former ATS officer concurred with the scientist. "While the FSL, Kalina, will submit its scientific findings to the local police, the probability of the results matching those of the Central FSL are low because both have collected different samples. They will draw their conclusions based on the evidence they have.
Officialspeak
When contacted, M V Garad, director, State Forensic Science Laboratory said, "Better internal coordination between various scientific agencies will help to understand the crime scene scenario, which, in turn, will help investigators crack the case using vital scientific evidence."
Colonel (retired) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary, who raised and commanded the first anti-terrorist Black Cat Commando force, known as Special Group, out of which the NSG was born, also admitted that the lack of coordination was a major issue.
He said all agencies should report their findings to the nominated investigating agency, which, in this case, is the Maharashtra ATS.
"Better coordination will help in recreating the Improvised Explosive Device (IED), which will lead to investigators finding out who perpetrated this heinous act.
Unless there is proper coordination, every agency will work for, and report to, its own bosses and keep their results and findings to themselves. This will be of no use because the investigating agencies require all this information," he said. |
