The vaginal swab of Arushi Talwar has been lost forever but it was “contaminated, not switched” since the 14-year-old girl’s DNA was first detected by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in the CBI headquarters in New Delhi. During their lie-detector and brain-mapping tests, Arushi Talwar’s parents were questioned about allegations of being involved in tampering of samples but were cleared.

That’s what the CBI is expected to tell the Supreme Court when it files its status report in the Arushi Talwar case amid fresh allegations of a cover-up and irregularities.

Tracking the journey of the swab from the Noida district hospital to its final destination, the lab in Hyderabad, reveals a trail of neglect and red-tape:

1. On May 16, 2008, Noida District Hospital doctor Sunil Dore collected the vaginal swab but failed to mention this in the post mortem report.

2. The next — and critical — procedure of converting the swabs into a slide for forensic testing was done by pathologist Ritcha Saxena. In a handwritten report, she said no traces of semen were found in the slides.

3. After taking over the case on June 1, CBI contacted Saxena over the telephone and, sources said, she “guided members of the CBI team to the drawer in her office” in which the tagged slide was along with several others.

4. Saxena, when contacted, said: “I was in Patna when the CBI rang me up, the slides were given to the CBI by then Chief Medical Superintendent S C Singhal in my absence.” Incidentally, Singhal and Saxena have been locked in a very public dispute. Singhal says Saxena was transferred in 2005 but she didn’t accept the transfer and, therefore, had no business conducting the test.

... contd.