22 January,2017 07:55 AM IST | | Vinod Kumar Menon
The dupatta of actor Jiah Khan, who had allegedly committed suicide in 2013, and which had inexplicably gone 'missing', has finally been located at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina
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The dupatta of actor Jiah Khan, who had allegedly committed suicide in 2013, and which had inexplicably gone 'missing', has finally been located at the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina. The dupatta was with them ever since the incident in June that year. On Friday, the Central Bureau of Investigation and the Juhu police probing the Jiah Khan case submitted the articles, including the dupatta used for hanging, to the special woman's court.
Crucial evidence
The lawyers of Jiah's mother, Rabia, had raised concerns about the missing dupatta, which is crucial evidence for the forensic evaluation to rule out either suicide or homicide. The dupatta, according to the lawyers, was never collected by the CBI, thereby raising serious concerns about the investigation and the subsequent charge sheet that the CBI filed. It was only after this question was raised before the court that the police collected the dupatta from the FSL.
Senior Inspector Kalpana Gadekar of BKC police station, who was then attached to the Juhu police station and probing the Jiah Khan case, said, "Usually, we do not submit the exhibits received from the crime scene until the trial begins, and in the Jiah Khan case, the trial had been stayed by the Bombay High Court, so there was no reason for us to submit the exhibits."
The matter is coming up for hearing on Monday. Rabia's lawyer Swapnil Ambure said, "Our contention is that the CBI did not submit the dupatta for examination to the expert committee at Chandigarh and therefore the committee could not come to a conclusion without examining it."
Dupatta not tested
A CBI official, who did not wish to be named, said, "We had been writing to the FSL, Kalina, asking them to submit all the exhibits, including the dupatta, but they never responded to us." Ambure said, "If the CBI had written letters to the FSL, Kalina, why did they not inform the court about it? Also, how could the CBI submit a charge sheet in the case without the dupatta being examined?"
Advocate Swapnil said, "The Chandigarh team could not come to a conclusion without examining the dupatta and other materials. How then could the CBI claim to have to completed its probe?"
A scientist from the Forensic Science Laboratory, Kalina, said, "Usually, we hand over all the exhibits that the police collect from the crime scene once we are done with our analysis." The scientist explained, that from the dupatta, bloodstains can be matched as can hair, if stuck to the dupatta. At times, the threads of the dupatta get stuck to the ligature marks around the neck and can be sent for forensic analysis. Also, the most crucial thing is to check if the dupatta is strong enough to withstand the weight of the deceased.
