Mobile Forensic Van to support Tiruchi Rural police in collecting evidence at crime scene

A Mobile Forensic Van (MFV) has been allotted to Tiruchi district to assist and support the police in collecting physical evidence at the scene of crime and securely store them for preliminary testing before transferring to the Regional Forensic Laboratory for analysis.

Tiruchi is one among the districts in Tamil Nadu to have been provided with the advanced MFV to the Forensic Sciences department whose main objective is to render quality services in the investigation of all types of criminal cases by employing classical as well as modern scientific technologies and equipment for the cause of justice. The MFV is stationed at the District Police Office, Tiruchi.  The Forensic expert assists the investigation officer in linking the crime with the perpetrators through physical evidences collected from the crime scene.

The MFV has been conceptualised and designed by the National Forensic Sciences University which is an institution of national importance under the Union Ministry of Home Affairs. The air-conditioned vehicle has been provided to Tiruchi district as part of the modernisation of forensic capabilities. 

The vehicle is equipped with all types of tools and kits required for on-the-spot collection of material and preliminary testing of evidence for offences such as rape, murder, dacoity, explosion, narcotics, arson, and accidents.

It is equipped with a set of scientific forensic kits such as general investigation kit, crime scene protection kit, complete fingerprint taking kit, blood and semen detection kit, narcotic detection kit, explosive detective kit, arson investigation kit with gas detector and evidence packing and collection kit among others.  

The presumptive test kits are used for preliminary analysis of various biological, chemical, physical, and digital evidence collected at the crime scene. These evidence will be subsequently sent to the Regional Forensic Laboratory to get a forensic analysis report.

Police sources said the vehicle also contains a host of accessories such as research stereo, microscope, scanner-cum-printer, weighing balance, a Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) camera, a mini refrigerator and a LED TV screen.  Being a sheltered and secured facility, the MFV helps in securely storing the evidence, collected from the crime scene, which could be bagged and labelled even while investigations were under way, the sources said.

A senior police officer said the MFV is a self-contained mobile lab for collection of crucial physical evidence at the crime scene and for conducting preliminary tests using necessary kits before transferring them to the Regional Forensic Laboratory to obtain the forensic analysis report.  The MFV had begun to be deployed upon receipt of crimes reported within the vast limits of the Tiruchi Rural police.

The sources said the MFV was recently deployed in connection with a case where a partially decomposed body of a woman was found beneath a bridge in Pulivalam police station limits in Tiruchi district. During the investigation, the case was subsequently altered as murder with the police arresting five persons.