Hyderabad: In the latest development in the Telangana forensic lab fire accident, the National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering team from Nagpur, which is investigating the matter, has found that 1100 essential files were burnt in the accident.
The investigating team said it is trying to recover the data from the files. On February 10, Telangana Director General of Police B Shivadhar Reddy said that Experts from national institutions such as CFSL and National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, Nagpur, had joined the investigation after the fire accident.
Amidst opposition, BRS leaders raised suspicion that material related to high-profile cases, including the 2015 cash-for-vote case were destroyed in the fire accident. DGP B 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.
Fire breaks out at FSL
On February 7, a fire broke out at the Telangana Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad. TGFSL Director Shikha Goel, on February 8, ruled out evidence related to high-profile cases, including cash-for-vote and phone-tapping, being destroyed in the fire that broke out in the laboratory.
Asked about the investigation into the fire accident, the DGP told reporters here that experts from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) and the National Institute of Fire Safety Engineering, Nagpur, reached the city and started their probe.
“A thorough investigation is being conducted into the fire accident by experts. We are waiting for the report. We don’t expect much damage, and even if some damage is there, we will try to retrieve it through the servers. Efforts were made to retrieve the data from the servers by the experts along with the local FSL team,” Reddy said.
Referring to the 2015 cash-for-vote case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB), he said the entire material related to the case was already shifted to the court, and no item pertaining to it was there at the time of the fire accident.
Similarly, the reports related to the phone tapping case were submitted to the authority concerned, the DGP said.
With inputs from PTI
