Byculla prison exhibits sent for forensic test

Mumbai: The Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL) at Kalina has started analysing the exhibits sent from Byculla prison following the murder of a woman inmate on last Friday. The crucial exhibits include two hard discs and a ‘Network Video Recorder’ (NVR) from the women’s prison, which is the network base for storage of CCTV footage.

The officials said that the NVR is a central networking device, which is connected to various CCTV cameras and accumulates and stores footage.

“The forensic authorities have informed us that it will take at least a fortnight to check the condition of the NVR, hard discs and the DVR that have been sent to them. They will extract the footage, and it will be given to the investigating team along with a report by the forensic team,” said a crime branch officer.

Investigators said that the NVR is placed separately and hence it is unlikely that it was damaged to the extent that it will become redundant. The footage of the murder and the rioting is stated to be a crucial piece of evidence in the investigation of two cases, officials said.

Meanwhile, a core team of crime branch has been constituted for investigating the incident. The probe team comprises of a woman inspector, a woman assistant inspector and two women constables. Other officers of the unit-III of crime branch will assist the team. The team has started questioning the inmates and recording their statements.