Aarushui case: London expert favours LCN DNA examination

On the last day of his cross-examination, a London-based DNA expert, who is also a defense witness in Aarushi murder case, on Friday favoured a Low Copy Number (LCN) DNA test on exhibits seized by Noida Police and CBI during the investigation.

LCN is a DNA profiling technique and is a more sensitive and advance as a profile can be obtained from only a few cells. Talwar couple had earlier requested for (LCN) DNA tests on the exhibits. However, the plea was rejected by court. Andre Semikhodski said that he disagreed with suggestions that LCN DNA test cannot be performed on the exhibits due to contamination.

‘I don’t agree with the suggestion that Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad and CCMD, Hyderabad have opined that LCN DNA cannot be performed on the exhibits due to contamination because of multiple handling and extraction of DNA,’ Semikhodski said in the court of additional sessions judge Shyam Lal.

After completing the recording of Semikhodski’s statement, the court fixed 23 September as the next date for the hearing.

On Monday, the court is likely to pronounce its order on the Talwars’ application, seeking BK Mahapatra’s further cross-examination in the trial court.

Mahapatra is a forensic scientist at Central Forensic Science Laboratory Delhi and had prepared the report for the CBI. On 16 May 2008, Aarushi Talwar, a 14-year-old Class IX student of Delhi Public School in Noida, and the only child of a successful dentist couple, was found dead with her throat slit in her parents’ home at Jalvayu Vihar in Noida.