To improve the standards of investigation in India, the Centre has sent a group of forensic scientists to the US to undergo a week's training at a facility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).
A team of 28 scientists under the directorate of forensic sciences (DFS) has been sent to the top investigative lab in the US, the FBI Academy at the Marine Corps base at Quantico in Virginia, a home ministry official said today.
The training will include areas like explosives, firearms and tool marks, computer analysis and response, narcotics, forensic audio and video, image analysis, hazardous materials response, latent prints, materials analysis, documents, special photographic analysis, and trace evidence.
"This is for the first time that a huge strength of forensic scientists has been sent abroad for training so that the forensic laboratories and scientists here are on a par with forensic centres in Washington," an official said.
The scientists left for the US on Saturday, the official said.
Earlier this year, the government had allocated Rs300 crore in its 11th five-year plan for the development of forensic science.
