Shahrukh to undergo forensic checks to establish ID: Police

nNEWDELHI: Shahrukhpathan—the man allegedly caught on camera brandishingapistolatapoliceman duringthenorth-eastdelhiriots— willbebroughttodelhi’sforensic Science Laboratory (FSL) on August5forhisphysicalmeasurement,photographyandvideographytocorroborateifheisthesame personseeninthevideo,according toadelhipoliceofficerprivytothe investigation.

Forensic experts said they use this form of evidence gathering in cases where an accused is caught ontape.theteamprobingtheriots case got approval for this procedure from a city court on July 29.

In their plea, police referred to Section5oftheidentificationofthe Prisoners Act, which talks about “Power to Magistrate to order a person to be measured or photograph”.“...accordingly,inviewof the submissions made by the IO (investigatingofficer)aswellasthe facts and circumstances of the case, this court is of the view that conductofphysicalmeasurement, photography, and videography of accusedisessentialforconfirming the identity of accused as well as thepurposesofinvestigationinthe case,” the court said while directing jail authorities to take Pathan to the Rohini lab on August 5.

Pathan, 23, was arrested on March3fromupandwascharged injuneforrioting,attempttomurder and under sections of the Indian Penal Code and Arms Act.

Apurportedvideoofhim,pointingagunatheadconstabledeepak Dahiya on February 24, had gone viral. He is lodged in Tihar jail.

“It is imperative for the investigating team to collect evidence, establishing his presence at the crime scene, and corroborate its probe that the suspect and the arrested man are the same. In caseswherephotographsandvideos are key evidence, the defence counselusuallycontestthepolice’s investigationbysayingthesuspect in the video is not his or her client ashewasnotpresentatthesceneof thatcrimeonthatdate.butbyhaving an affirmative forensic report linkingthearrestedpersonandthe person seen in the video, the defencecounselmaynotbeableto usetheirtheoryinpathan’scase,” saidaninvestigator.

Pathan’slawyer,asgharkhan, said police was trying to make it a “veryspecialcase”andtheirentire effortwastodelaythebailofhisclient, who he said had been “falsely arrested”. “...I want to say he did notfireatthepoliceman.asmyclient was surrounded by people throwing stones, he opened fire in self-defenceandnottoinjureorkill anyone,” Khan said.