Aarushi murder case: Still possible to extract DNAs, says defence witness

Ghaziabad: A London-based DNA expert, who is also a defence witness in Aarushi murder case, today told a CBI court  that it is still possible to find some DNA on the handle of ‘khukhri’, a sharp-edged weapon recovered from the room of Krishna, friend of slain domestic aide Hemraj. Andre Semikhodski told the court that the handle has several grooves and it was possible to extract DNAs from it. Today, Semikhodski was allowed to examine a block of cement on which blood-stained palm print is present, some bottles of alcohol and beer along with the ‘khukri’. [caption id=“attachment_1115663” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Courtesy: ibn live[/caption] The forensic experts told the court that as per his view, “sufficient biological material could also be present in this palm print for retesting”. The witness also told the court that if the raw data of the exhibits (‘khukhri’, bottles and palm print) is provided to him, he can come back and testify in the court again. He also said that the forensic reports may be “misleading” as the exhibits were touched by several people. “Since these exhibits have been touched by several persons on several occasion without gloves during investigation, transportation and proceedings in the court and therefore, it would not be advisable to conduct DNA analysis on these and the results may be misleading and can implicate innocent persons and thus, causing miscarriage of justice,” Semikhodski told the court. The Talwars’ witness also questioned BK Mahapatra’s reports. Mahapatra is a forensic scientist at Central Forensic Science Laboratory Delhi and had prepared the report for the prosecution. “This tabular chart (of several DNA samples), prepared by Mahapatra, is not a piece of raw data. In the caption of the table, Mahapatra has not mentioned whether profile are partial or and on its backside. These tabular charts could not be prepared without analysing the raw data,” he said. “Hardy-Weinberg Law is important for interpreting results of DNA analysis because this law allows calculating probability of genotype and ultimately calculates random match probability,” said Semikhodski. The cross-examination of Talwars’ witness will continue on September 19. PTI