In its bid to crack the twin rape-cum-murder case of Badaun, the CBI is all set to seek a variety of scientific tests to gather material evidence to nail culpability of the culprits. The agency will send vaginal swabs of the minor victims to a laboratory in Hyderabad for DNA analysis and will also seek DNA finger printing of their personal belongings.
While the vaginal swabs collected by the local doctors have been seized by the CBI, the agency has collected clothes, slippers and other personal belongings of the victims from the family members on the suggestion of the three-member panel of the forensic experts that visited the place to exhume the bodies.
The swabs will soon be sent to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad for analysis. The lab is likely to give its report within a week to the agency. The analysis of DNA collected from the personal belongings is expected to provide evidence indicating the rapists, sources said.
Swabs, the sources said, can be stored for long periods and the results may not be adversely affected. The DNA identified for the tests will be matched with the accused persons and suspects. In the absence of any fresh autopsy, the medical board will rely on DNA analysis which can be recovered from the personal belongings of the victims.
Following expert advice, the CBI had sought fresh autopsy but the bodies could not be exhumed on account of heavy rains and the graves being submerged in the rising water level of the river.
Fresh autopsy was required as the post-mortem report of the local doctor was only suggestive of rape without conclusively proving it. The alleged rape and murder had come to light on May 28 when the bodies of two cousins, aged 14 and 15 years old, were found hanging from a tree in the village in Ushait area in UP’s Badaun district, leading to a nationwide outrage.
The duo had gone missing from their homes on the night of May 27. The police had arrested five suspects including two policemen but the case was transferred to CBI by the State government following the uproar.