Evidence in two sensitive cases safe in courts: FSL chief

Hyderabad: Director of Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory (TGFSL) Shikha Goel on Sunday dismissed allegations of destroying crucial evidence in two sensitive cases in the fire that broke out at the Nampally FSL on Saturday. She stated that all key forensic reports and materials were safe as they were submitted to courts quite earlier.

The incident has sparked political controversy when a political party alleged that the digital evidence relating to the 2015 ‘note-for-vote’ case allegedly involving the Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy have been destroyed in the blaze.

At a press briefing, Goel assured that all critical evidence, including materials from the ‘note for vote’ and ‘phone-tapping’ cases were secure. She said that forensic reports were not affected.

“Around 16 material pieces of evidence received in the case were submitted to the ACB court in 2021 itself. The forensic laboratory had already handed over its complete findings to the ACB,” she said, while clarifying that no evidence related to the cases was stored at the FSL at the time of the fire incident.

As regards the 2024 phone-tapping case at Panjagutta police station, Goel said that 136 items of material evidence had been received by the FSL for analysis between March 2024 and last month. All the material objects were submitted to the forwarding authority except for seven, which were received this year.

“The seven items at FSL have been retrieved safely using technical methods,” she added.

Shika Goel said that the fire broke out on Saturday at 10.08 am. The office boy Sai Krishna noticed the fire and alerted the official concerned. All technical equipment in FSL was disconnected. On being alerted, fire tenders were rushed in, and the firefighters doused the fire by 1.30 pm.

She said the fire resulted in some damage to facilities on the first floor of the FSL building. These include the computer forensics lab, library and HRD room. The remaining facilities in the laboratory are functioning as usual. A case has been registered at Nampally police station. Police are investigating it from all angles. Shikha Goel said a detailed report on the cause of the fire and the exact extent of losses would be made public once the investigation and damage assessment are completed.