A TEAM from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) in Pune arrived in the city on Friday to assist the National Investigation Agency (NIA) into the Ambani bomb scare case.
The NIA suspects that the Toyota Land Cruiser Prado – one of the five vehicles seized so far in the case — may have been used to ferry the gelatin sticks placed in the Scorpio vehicle, which was found outside the Ambani residence on February 25, from Nagpur.
A forensic analysis of the vehicle will help determine if there were any traces of explosives in the vehicle and confirm if it had been used to ferry the gelatin sticks.
It was the same vehicle that was used by suspended Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze to get Mansukh Hiran to the Mumbai Police headquarters from his Thane residence on February 26.
Hiran, to whom the Scorpio belonged, was found dead at Kalwa creek earlier this month. Waze was arrested by the NIA for allegedly being part of the conspiracy to place the Scorpio outside the residence of industrialist Mukesh Ambani on February 25.
While the NIA had initially contacted the Maharashtra Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) and also had a meeting with its officials on Thursday, the central agency decided to use the services of the CFSL that comes under the Union government.
While the CFSL Pune has been around for the last few years, it has skeletal staffing. Majority of cases, even
when it came to central agencies in Maharashtra, were handed over to the Maharashtra FSL.
In this particular instance, however, NIA decided to stick to CFSL considering the high-profile nature of the case.
The CFSL will assist NIA with forensic image comparison – a technique that compares digital images extracted from video recording to determine the probability if the same person is depicted in two videos. In this case, the NIA has
asked the lab to compare the video of a man captured walking in a kurta and with a cloth on his head outside the
Ambani residence within hours of the Scorpio being parked there. Besides, the NIA will also be seeking the help of CFSL to carry out DNA tests on some of the discarded clothes it had found near mangroves in Mulund to check if they were used by Waze.
