THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Two employees of the Chemical Examiner Laboratory -- former Chief Chemical Examiner R Geetha and chemical analyst M Chitra -- accused of tampering with the forensic report in the Sr Abhaya murder case were let off by a court here on ‘benefit of doubt’.
Chief Judicial Magistrate Vincent Charley in the 28 page verdict said that there was no evidence to substantiate the allegation that corrections were made fraudulently in the report. “A person who prepared the report or in other words the author of the document has the liberty to make necessary changes and alterations in the course of preparation of documents,” the verdict said.
“Since the first accused Geetha and second accused Chitra are the persons who prepared the document, the corrections/alterations/changes made by them during the preparation of the report do not come within the ambit of false documents,” it said. There was no evidence to prove that a conspiracy was hatched to forge the documents. The complainant failed to prove forgery in the case, the verdict said.
Coming out of the court, Geetha and Chitra said they suffered for seven years because of the case. “At last it has been proved that we are innocent. We have followed only the normal procedures while preparing the report,” they told reporters. Both of them stressed that no semen was detected in the vaginal swab and smear of Sr Abhaya.
Complainant Jomon Puthenpurackal said that he will move the Kerala High Court against the verdict of the CJM court.