Kunduli gang rape: Contradicting forensic reports raise eyebrows

Bhubaneswar: The role of State Forensic Laboratory is under scanner with starkly contradictory findings in its ‘preliminary inter-divisional report’ on Kunduli gang rape and its final report as experts claim that there is little likelihood that two reports from the same agency could be so divergent.

"It's not called preliminary but internal report based on which the final report is prepared. The preliminary report is the one which is prepared at district-level forensic laboratory, but not at the State laboratory. The content of a report cannot be changed in the final stage," Bimalendu Ray, former assistant director of State Forensic Laboratory said.

Ray's statement hinted at manipulation, which in the history of the state forensic laboratory is not new as similar allegations surfaced during 1999 Anjana Mishra gang rape case.

"In Anjana Mishra case, two assistant directors had manipulated the report under pressure and for which they were in CBI net,” Ray added.

The State forensic laboratory director Purnachandra Mandal, who ordered a departmental inquiry into the leakage of the ‘preliminary inter-divisional report’ today said "The final report which we have submitted to court has no mention of semen on the clothes of the victim. We have started a departmental inquiry into how the preliminary report was leaked."

The preliminary report, the findings of which were aired on OTV had mentioned that as per the chemical tests conducted at the laboratory, traces of semen of two persons were found on the clothes of the Kunduli gang rape victim, who committed suicide on January 22, 2018.