Times
of India: Chandigarh: Sunday, 21 September 2014.
The fate of
102 liquor smugglers arrested over the last two-and-a-half years was uncertain
as samples taken from the seized consignments were gathering dust in a
storeroom of Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Sector 36.
All 102 persons,
including 18 women, were arrested in 85 cases of liquor smuggling.
Police
sources told TOI, "Two years back, a truck loaded with 235 cartons of
illegal liquor was seized near Manimajra. A total of 11 samples were sent to
CFSL. The result is still awaited. An incomplete chargesheet was filed in the
court owing to the absence of the chemical examination report."
An SHO
requesting anonymity said, "Earlier, for making a watertight case against
smugglers, we used to send the seized truck loaded with liquor to the lab
because the positive chemical report of cartons contained more weight than the
results of merely two or three samples."
A reply to an
RTI application filed by TOI highlighted investigations were pending in 425
cases due to the lack of forensic examination reports from CFSL, one of the
central laboratories out of four throughout the country.
On the other
hand, responding to the TOI report, CFSL director Dr K K Ganjoo said, "The
matter of staff shortage is being taken up with the ministry of home affairs
and fresh recruitments are being made. In first phase, we are hiring forensic
experts on contractual basis and recently fulfilled vacant vacancies. He said a
separate unit for dealing the samples related to NDPS Act cases has been set up
in the laboratory." The laboratory was facing a shortage of around 85
staff members.
The central
laboratory is a centre of excellence in physical science and it also made
achievements in the field of voice testing technology. The laboratory has been
credited for cracking many heinous cases.
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