Hyderabad: The police launched an investigation into the fire incident at the Forensic Science Laboratory of Telangana Police, even as authorities denied loss of evidence relating to key cases, including the one registered against Chief Minister A. Revanth Reddy, in the past.
Main opposition Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) raised the suspicion that digital evidence relating to the 2015 ‘note-for-vote’ case allegedly involving the Chief Minister could have been destroyed in the fire that occurred on Saturday.
BRS working president K. T. Rama Rao also alleged a “cover-up for lack of evidence in cooked-up political cases like phone tapping”.
Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Director Shikha Goel told the media on Sunday that a complaint was lodged with local police and that investigations were underway to ascertain the cause of the fire.
The IPS official said after the fire broke out on Saturday at 10.08 a.m., the staff acted promptly to control it by using fire extinguishers. All technical equipment in FSL was disconnected. The firefighters doused the fire by 1.30 p.m.
She said the fire resulted in some damage to facilities on the first floor of the FSL building. These include the computer forensic lab, library and HRD room.
She said officials were assessing the damage caused by the fire. Details will be revealed after completing the assessment.
“Wild and preposterous allegations and speculation have been made about the cause of this incident and damage to property present in FSL. Unverified claims made in certain sections of the media, including social media, about the cause of the fire and loss caused to property relating to two cases,” she said.
The official claimed that a large part of the case property has been retrieved and placed under proper security.
She clarified that the evidence relating to important cases was already submitted to the courts concerned.
The FSL director said allegations have been made about damage to property in a case registered by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) in 2015.
“In this case, FSL received 16 material objects, and reports were submitted to honourable ACB Court in 2015 itself. All 16 material objects in the case were returned to honourable court. No material relating to this particular case was available in FSL yesterday,” she said.
Referring to the phone tapping case, the official said that FSL received 136 material objects from March 2024 to January 2026.
“All these material objects, except seven items, have already been examined and reports submitted to the forwarding authority. Seven material objects which were with FSL are also being examined, and reports are under preparation,” she said while adding that material objects which were with FS were safely retrieved.
(IANS)
