FSL Rohini uses new tech to help solve cases of animal slaughter
New Delhi: Cases related to illegal slaughter of animals, including cow, may now be solved expeditiously in Delhi with the forensic laboratory at Rohini using a new technology to identify the animal that has been butchered.
The Rohini FSL started using the Mitochondrial DNA technology in August this year, and has helped solve 22 cases of animal slaughter since then. According to officials, this is the first lab in north India to deploy the technique to identify the animal that has been slaughtered and ascertain its sex.
The laboratory has deployed an automated DNA extraction instrument and a Real-Time PCR instrument based on mitochondrial DNA technology—Mitochondrial DNA is the physical embodiment of genetic information encoded in mitochondrion—to identify the animal and its sex.
According to Delhi Police officials, the facility will help them solve cases of illegal slaughter expeditiously as they have to wait for long duration when they send the samples outside the city.
They said slaughter of certain animals hurts the religious feelings of people so police need to take expeditious action in such cases to avoid any tension. There has been cases where people accused of illegal cow slaughter were lynched to death by mobs.
During the probe of animal slaughter, even though a case is registered, the police depend on forensic evidence to first identify the species through the meat recovered, and then to determine its sex, according to senior FSL senior scientific officer Naresh Kumar.
"When someone is caught and claims he was transporting buff, yet it is an illegal act of slaughter which also comes under the Animal Slaughtering Act," he told.
He said apart from cow and buffalo meat, the lab now can also identify chicken meat. "We started getting queries in one-two cases where the client being strictly vegetarian wanted to know if they were delivered non-vegetarian food. So, that is a new species added to the facility for identification."
A senior Delhi police officer explained how the facility helps them solve animal slaughter cases expeditiously.
When the identity of the animal is very clear right at the scene of crime, one need not take the help of forensic experts, he said. "But in cases where one gets only remains, blood samples or flesh, the forensic report helps ascertain the identity of the species." The testing facility also helps in curbing the serious issue of meat adulteration, FSL officials said.
A senior FSL official said they recently tackled a case where a suspected mixture of two meats was being illegally transported in a car. "All we got was the blood samples of the mixed meat from the vehicle. So, in that case based on the blood samples, we identified it had both cow and buffalo meat," he said.
