Uttar Pradesh’s Additional Director (Health) C M Mawar visited Noida district hospital on Wednesday morning to gather facts on the Arushi-Hemraj murder case. The visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the controversy over an alleged swap in Arushi’s swab samples.

Hospital Chief Medical Superintendent Rajrani Kansal said, “We gave him (Mawar) copies of documents he wanted. He also took the attendance register in which Richa Saxena (pathologist who assisted in the autopsy) was marked absent. The register was from April to December 2008.”

Kansal said Mawar also took copies of the postmortem report and a copy of the medico-legal register in which details of autopsies are registered.

According to Kansal, Mawar also took a written statement from Navneet, the technician who was present in the pathology lab on May 16 and received the slides from the police. He reportedly handed them to Saxena for tests.

Mawar also contacted former chief medical superintendent S C Singhal and Richa Saxena. Singhal reportedly said he was in Rampur, while Saxena asked Mawar to wait for a day for her comments. “I am being victimised,” she said. “I told him (Mawar) that I will talk to him with documents asserting my innocence.”