Action likely against FSL officer who confirmed PETN

The state government is likely to take action against a senior officer of Lucknow’s state Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), which was associated with testing of the suspicious powder found in the UP assembly on July 12.

While the FSL report said the powder was high potential explosive PETN, questions were raised over the authenticity of the report and credentials of the senior FSL officer. Later, a probe was ordered against the official in question.

Mani Prasad Mishra, secretary, home department, confirmed that DG technical services Mahendra Modi, who led the probe, has submitted his findings to DGP Sulkhan Singh, who in turn forwarded it to the home department.

Mishra said the home department was still studying the report. On Wednesday, the FSL officer in question was also quizzed by NIA sleuths. The NIA officials also visited the Lucknow FSL office to find out whether the lab and its officials are competent enough to conduct the test and draw a conclusion.

“The probe report confirms negligence by the senior FSL officer and the state government is likely to take action against him,” said a senior IPS officer.

Earlier, the Lucknow police lodged an FIR against unidentified people on July 14 and later chief minister Yogi Adityanath announced in the state assembly about the recovery of the explosive, sparking widespread shock. Soon after, Adityanath recommended a NIA inquiry.

In the assembly on Thursday, SP leader Ram Govind Chowdhary, BSP leader Lal Ji Verma and Congress MLC Deepak Singh raised questions over the FSL officer’s credentials. They alleged that a financial embezzlement case was lodged against the FSL official when he was posted in Bihar and prosecution sanction against him is still pending with the state government.