VIJAYAWADA: A senior police officer who was working at Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad when Ayesha Meera was murdered claims chemical analysis and DNA profiling done at FSL is accurate.
In its verdict acquitting P Satyam Babu, who was convicted by a lower court in the sensational case, the High Court had expressed its doubts over the procedures followed by investigating agencies and the FSL, stating that there was a “serious cloud of suspicion” on the credibility of the lab’s DNA report.
The officer, however, maintained that DNA collected from vaginal swabs and smears of victim had matched that of Satyam Babu, who was arrested 9 months after evidence was collected. He ruled out any tampering of evidence at FSL and said if FSL report could not be trusted, nothing could. “The samples were collected and sent to us by police and we were not aware of whose DNA profile was being made. DNA profile generated first was kept at FSL to compare it with other samples sent over the course of the investigation to find a match,” he said.
According to him, APFSL was sent several samples of different suspects in the case, but none had matched “At no point of time can we manipulate DNA profiling. Getting DNA from vaginal swabs is a very difficult task and manipulating or tampering with it is next to impossible,” he said.
When asked why court had acquitted Satyam Babu in spite of forensic proof, he opined that it all depends on how evidence and FSL report was interpreted. Defence lawyers in the case might have presented their version in a more convincing manner, he said and added that there could have been a communication gap, which ultimately lead to the undoing of the prosecution.
Meanwhile, senior police officer AV Ranganath, who played a key role in arrest of P Satyam Babu insists that Satyam Babu is not innocent.
Speaking to Express, the officer, presently working as DCP (Traffic) in Hyderabad, said they went about the arrest of Satyam Babu in the case in a logical manner and during investigation the accused had confessed to the crime.
According to him, Satyam Babu had confessed to the crimes and had narrated how went about committing them. He said Satyam Babu was a peculiar character having “psychological issues and abnormal sexual behaviour”.
He admitted that till Satyam Babu was caught, the investigation in the case was chaotic.