Mobile forensic investigation vans to aid Pune police
Pune : The Pune city and rural police teams will now get mobile forensic vans equipped with various kits and experts to collect samples from crime scenes.
Director General of police (legal and technical) Prabhat Ranjan said that in the coming months all the police units in the state will get one such vehicle.
On Wednesday, Ranjan launched 10 such vehicles at the state Crime Investigation Department (CID) office. CID chief Sanjay Kumar and IGPs Ritesh Kumar and Sanjeev Kumar Singhal were also present on the occasion.
Ranjan said, “These vans will reach the crime spot immediately to collect forensic samples before evidences get contaminated. The vans will aid investigations by collecting material evidences from the spots especially in serious crimes like rape, murder, dacoity, bomb blasts etc. Very often, the slightest hint in investigations leads us to a totally different angle.”
State CID chief Sanjay Kumar added, “Each van will be equipped with a forensic expert from the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), one technician, a fingerprint expert from CID, and a photographer. The vans will be in control of the crime branch at the respective police unit.”
The 10 mobile forensic vans will now be handed over to Pune city, Amravati city, Auranagabd city, Nashik city, Solapur city commissionerates and rural police units of Osmanabad, Nanded, Pune and Thane districts.
The Maharashtra home department will buy 36 more such vehicles, each costing Rs 27 lakhs, to distribute them to remaining commissionerate and district police units.
“Each mobile van is well equipped with various testing kits which can test for explosives, narcotics, blood, DNA, semen and other important things required to be tested at a crime scene,” added Kumar.
At present, the control room has to make separate calls to the photographer, fingerprint technician, forensic expert and others when a crime is reported. It takes a long time for these experts to reach the crime spot and collect evidence.
