Two new regional forensic labs to be set up in Maharashtra

Maharashtra government has given its nod for two new regional forensic science laboratories to be set up at Kolhapur and Nanded, for eight districts in the state's Marathwada, Western Maharashtra and Konkan regions.

According to a Government Resolution (GR), the Kolhapur lab will cater to Sangli, Kolhapur, Ratnagiri and Sindhudurg districts while Nanded, Parbhani, Hingoli and Latur districts will be attached to the Nanded laboratory.

Earlier, these districts were attached to regional labs at Pune and Aurangabad. The government has sanctioned creation of 100 posts and approved Rs 27 crore funds for the purpose.

"Forensic laboratories help provide scientific analysis of the crime committed and its reports act as a strong evidence in the court of law. Recent incidence of crime show modern and state-of-the-art equipment are used to commit criminal acts. Hence, it is important that the investigating agencies have adequate facilities for crime detection so that the conviction rate is also increased," the GR said.

At present, the headquarters of Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories is in Mumbai and the regional headquarters are at Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik and Amravati.

Considering the large number of pending cases at Pune and Aurangabad, a decision has been taken to set up two new regional labs at Kolhapur and Nanded, the GR said.