1,100 ‘essential files’ destroyed in FSL ‘fire

Hyderabad: Ina breakthrough in the case relating to the February 7th ‘fire accident’ in the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here, a team of the National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, Nagpur, which is investigating the matter, has found that “1,100 essential files” were gutted in theincident. The investigating team has said it is trying to recover data from the files.

On February 10, Telangana Director General of Police (DGP) B Shivadhar Reddy said that experts from national institutions, such as the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and the National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, had joined the investigation after the fire accident.

Amidst opposition, Bharat Rashtra Samithi leaders had raised suspicion that material related to high-profile cases, including the 2015 ‘cash-for-vote scam’, were destroyed in the fire.

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 day after the fire broke out at the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory, TGFSL Director Shikha Goel ruled out the loss of evidence related to high-profile cases, including cash-for-vote and phone-tapping, in the fire.

Referring to the 2015 cash-for-vote case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), the DGP had said the entire material related to the case had been shifted to the court, and that no item pertaining to it was there at the time of the fire accident. Similarly, the reports related to the phone-tapping case had been submitted to the authority concerned, the DGP said.