Hyderabad: Authorities Deny Loss of High-Profile Case Evidence in Fire at Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory

Hyderabad:Experts from national institutions such as CFSL and National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, Nagpur have joined the probe to ascertain the cause of fire accident at TGFSL here, a top official said on Tuesday, February 10. Amidst oppositionBRSleaders raising suspicion that material related to high-profile cases, including the 2015 cash-for-vote case were destroyed in the fire accident, DGP B Shivadhar Reddy termed it as “totally false”. “Some people made statements that the material related to a key (cash-for-vote) case was lost in the fire incident. It is totally false and there was no such loss,” he said. A fire that broke out on February 7 resulted in some damage to the computer forensic lab, its associated facilities, the training hall and certain other facilities located on the first floor of the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory (TGFSL) building. There was no loss of life or injury to any person in the incident, officials had said. TGFSL Director Shikha Goel on February 8 ruled out evidence related to high-profile cases, including cash-for-vote and phone-tapping, being destroyed in the fire that broke out in the laboratory. Asked about the investigation into the fire accident, theDGPtold reporters here that experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, Nagpur reached the city and started their probe. “A thorough investigation is being conducted into the fire accident by experts. We are waiting for the report. We don’t expect much damage and even if some damage is there, we will try to retrieve it through servers. Efforts were on to retrieve the data from the servers by the experts along with the local FSL team,” Reddy said. Referring to the 2015 cash-for-vote case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), he said the entire material related to the case was already shifted to the court and no item pertaining to it was there at the time of the fire accident. Similarly, the reports related to phone tapping case, were submitted to the authority concerned, the DGP said. The cash-for-vote case pertains to allegations against Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy (then TDP MLA in 2015), of trying to bribe a nominated MLA in connection with an MLC election. The phone tapping case relates to allegations of widespread unauthorised and illegal phone surveillance and interception involving politicians, businessmen, journalists, members of the judiciary, and other prominent individuals during the previous BRS government.