Mumbai gets it's very first state-of-the-art forensic lab

Police will no longer have to send evidence to other centres for testing

“Can we now say that we have the best forensic lab in the country?” Home Minister RR Patil asked Dr Rukhmini Krishnamurthy, director of the forensic laboratory at Kalina. “Yes Sir!” replied the doctor. On Thursday, Patil inaugurated a new branch of the forensic lab which will now house laboratories for all procedures required under forensic science.

The five-storey building, built right behind the old laboratory, will have facilities such as the narco-analysis tests, polygraph, brain signature profiling, cyber forensic, tape authentication, speaker/voice identification, firing gallery and forensic clinical toxicology.

“Our police officers will no longer have to go to Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad or Chandigarh to do these tests,” Patil said. “I am proud that the facility has started in Mumbai. It should have happened earlier, but it’s better late than never.”

Keeping in mind the growing threat of terror after the 11/7 Mumbai train blasts, the state recently announced a Rs10-crore package for refurbishing the forensic laboratory.

As part of the upgrade, experts at Kalina have been appointed and trained at national-level institutes. Eight experts have been hired to carry out new tests, one of them being CR Mukundan, founder of the forensic laboratory in Bangalore.

Since 1974, Krishnamurthy has been envisaging a modern laboratory in Mumbai capable of handling advanced scientific investigations on par with other laboratories in the country. “I am glad I was able to see this through before my retirement,” she said.

Presently, the only forensic laboratory with all facilities is at Ahmedabad while others have limited facilities. “Now Mumbai too will have all facilities to conduct different tests. It is the most advanced and state-of-art, international-level lab,” Krishnamurthy said.

Patil also said that the conviction rate in the state has gone down to an abysmal 12 per cent in the last two years. With criminals no longer succumbing to traditional interrogation techniques, it is time  forensic science is employed to aid investigations, he added. He lamented the fact that despite forensic science being the most accurate investigative tool, none of its tests are admissible as evidence in court of law.

Of all the tests available at the lab, the most unique are the brain mapping and brain signature profiling tests. During these tests, Mukundan said,  the subject is asked to sit in an isolated room and a voice or sound is played. Within 15 seconds, his brain reacts to the sound and the pattern is is captured by the software. “If the voice is known to the subject, the brain will react positively. If not, the brain won’t react,” Mukundan said.

Similarly, when a person is required to identify a certain individual or visuals, then a photo or visuals are played before him and the reactions of his brain are captured. “These two forms of tests are called the visual probe and the audio probe. They are very accurate,” claimed Mukundan.

Even the scientists and officials who would be pressed into service at the lab have been trained by the best scientists in the country. “The government will also ensure that the officials in the lab get salaries which compete with the best salaries in the market so that the best ones work for us,” Patil assured.

With the infrastructure and manpower in place, authorities are hoping that the laboratory will be fully operational in a matter of days. “It will still take a few days to get the first test done because there are a few formalities which need to be completed. I am hoping to have the lab fully functional within a month,” Krishnamurthy said. 

The following tests will be done at the lab

Polygraph or lie detector test
It is conducted in three phases - a pretest interview, chart recording and diagnosis. The examiner prepares a set of test questions based on the relevant information about the case provided by the investigating officer. The subject is questioned and the reactions are measured. A baseline is established by asking questions whose answers the investigators already know. While answering these questions, deviation from the baseline is taken as a sign of lie. 

Narco analysis or truth serum test
In this test, the subject’s imagination is neutralised and reasoning faculty affected by making him semi-conscious by administering a drug which suppresses his reasoning power without affecting his memory and speech. In this state, it becomes difficult for him to lie and his answers would be restricted to facts he is already aware of.

Brain signature profiling
This technique uses the concept of ‘Experimental Knowledge’ acquired by the subject through participation in the crime. This is based on the fact that probes presented to the suspect evoke remembrance of experience that he or she would have had. Such remembrance will be accompanied by extensive changes in the electrical oscillation pattern in the brain.

Cyber forensics
It is defined as the process of extracting information and data from computer storage media and guaranteeing its accuracy and reliability. It is the application of computer/PDA/SIM/Credit card/Debit card investigation and analysis techniques in the interests of determining potential legal evidence.

Computer specialists can draw from an array of methods for discovering data that resides in a device or recovering deleted, encrypted or damaged file information. Any or all information may help during discovery, depositions or actual litigation.

Tape authentication
The output signals of tape recorders can be damaged by three general factors - noise, interference and distortion - each of which is caused by a specific condition. To reduce or eliminate various noise and distortion sounds from an audio tape, forensic audio specialists use a variety of filters. The test is done to determine whether a tape has been edited, tampered or altered in any way.

Video authentication
It is a process that is used to ascertain the trustworthiness of a digital video. In other words, a video authentication system ensures the integrity of digital video and verifies that the video taken into use has not been tampered.

Forensic video examinations
It is concerned with the authencity and integrity of the signal. Questions relating and whether the tape is a copy, a compilation of other tapes or an edited version are of important consideration. Forensic examination of videotapes usually consists of both a visual and aural examination.

Speaker identification
It is regarding the use of auditory analysis, acoustic analysis and/or computerised techniques to recognise, identify or discriminate among human voices. A human voice is as unique to an individual as a fingerprint. This makes it possible to identify a speaker and to record the characteristics of his or her voice for use as the basis for future verification, identification of a person from the sound of their voice.

Clinical toxicology
Patients are admitted to hospitals for consumption or accidental consumption of poison or any dangerous substance. Merely by medical examination the nature of poison cannot be decided and hence the proper treatment or antidote cannot be given, which can be fatal. This test helps doctors overcome the problem. This test will analyse the stomach wash, gastric lavage and blood of the patient and inform the doctors what the substance is so that proper treatment can be applied.

Firing gallery
A sufficiently long ‘firing gallery’ of 48x3 metres has been built at the forensic lab, which will be helpful in measuring velocity of the bullets, effective range of weapons, distance of firing in various crime exhibits. Sophisticated computerised ‘project velocity measuring system’ has also been installed, which will help in improving quality, accuracy and speed of work and also carry out research work.