Pune, Aug 3 : Mumbai tablopid MidDay today published pictures of Pune policemen picking up crucial evidences of the serial blasts with their bare hands.
In the photographs, policemen are seen lifting the bicycles, suspected to have carried the explosives, with their bare hands, while taking them to the forensic lab from the police station.
Colonel (retd) Mahendra Pratap Choudhary, who has trained Mumbai police commandoes in combating terror, told the newspaper: “ I have seen the television footage from last evening wherein a policeman wearing bullet-proof jacket was spotted searching for clues from one of the spots.
"This was an absolutely incorrect way of handling the crime scene at the initial stages following a blast.
"The policeman did not wear a bomb suit, nor did he have any other safety gear like explosives vapour detector or explosives trace detector.
"It was very evident from the cop's actions that he was not trained and that he did not have a clue on how to go about collecting evidences from the spot.”
Said Choudhary: “ It is crucial for investigators and forensic scientists that the crime scene remains unaltered so they may gather the smallest of clues about the nature and type of explosives used."
Former union home secretary GK Pillai told MidDay: “ Special training has been imparted to policemen attached with Anti- Terrorism Squads across the country on collection and preservation of evidence from crime scenes.
"It is usually advisable to wear gloves at the time of gathering clinching evidences from the spot.
"The job of the local police is basically to protect the crime scene by putting up barricades around it and ensuring nobody trespasses until the ATS and forensic teams arrive.”
Former forensic socience laboratory director and technical adviser to Indistitute of Forensic Science Rukmini Krishnamurthy said: “ Scientific crime scene management is the key to modernising any investigation.
"The spot is the wealth of all the clue materials and hence has to be studied and samples collected in a systematic, scientific way studied only by trained and experienced personnel. While collecting samples, people should wear gloves, masks, lab coats etc."
Maharashtra director general of police Sanjeev Dayal said, “ I wont be able to make any comment unless I look at the photographs.”
A Pune ATS official however said: “ There is no question of evidence being tampered with because policemen loaded the cycles used in the blasts with their bare hands.
"Forensic experts who visited the spot within the first few hours after the blasts have already collected required evidences to ascertain the nature of the explosions."
