Evidence tampered with: Forensic lab

LUCKNOW: The knife recovered from the school toilet and said to have been used to stab the class I boy of Brightland Inter College was found to be ‘tampered evidence’ as experts at Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Mahanagar said that it had multiple fingerprints and they could not conclusively lift any one matching those of the attacker.
A knife, red stole, a shoe, and blood samples lifted from the school toilet had been sent to FSL on January 17.Later, hair recovered from the injured boy’s sweater were also sent to the forensic lab along with sample from the senior girl for match.
FSL officials said that the knife presented as evidence from the spot had multiple fingerprints and had been tampered with, hence getting prints to match conclusively was difficult.
Meanwhile, the expert in toxicology division who had to examine the hair is on leave, hence the result is delayed.
FSL deputy director G Khan told TOI that the investigation part under him has
revealed that the blood on the knife matched with that of victim Hrithik Sharma, suggesting that the same was used to stab him. “However, the knife also had abrasions on it, hinting that someone had rubbed it against a hard surface to clean blood stain,” revealed Khan. The results of analysis of other evidence will be out soon, he said.
Police only have CCTV footage which shows a girl putting something in her blazer’s pocket after taking it out from her bag but it is not clear enough to say that it was a knife.
On the other hand, legal experts said that since the CCTV footage is quite hazy, it is not good enough evidence. The police has so far not been able to find the motive behind the attack.
Meanwhile, investigating officer of the case, Geeta Singh said that the boy and senior girl could not be presented before each other because of time issues and her engagements. “It will now be done on Monday,” said Singh.