Introduction to Forensic

Science
Dr Ajee Kuruvilla
Professor, Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology
MSU-Ramaiah International Medical School, Bangalore
Bangalore
At the end of this class, the students will be
able to
• Define Forensic Science.
• Explain the principles of Forensic Science.
• Discuss the functions of Forensic Science Laboratory and its and the
role of Forensic Science in crime scene investigation
My expectation from you
To be:
• Interactive
• Interested
• Inspired
Forensic Science
The word ‘Forensic’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘forensis’,
which implies something pertaining to ‘forum’. In Rome, ‘forum’ was
the meeting place where civic and legal matters used to be discussed
by those with public responsibility.

Civic and legal matters

Forensic science relates to a discussion or examination performed in
public about civic and legal matters, hence it carries a strong judicial
connotation.
Forensic scientist
Forensic scientists
Forensic scientists help the investigation by conducting tests which
would help:
• Identify the victim
• Reduce the suspects list
• Find identifying features of the perpetrator
• Reconstruct the crime
Crime scene investigation
• A body washes up on a lonely stretch of beach.
• A fire in a methamphetamine lab devastates an apartment building.
• A car accident claims the life of a driver during her trip home.
These are all potential crime scenes.
• By conducting a systematic examination of these areas, crime scene
investigators uncover the physical evidence to help identify what
happened and who was involved.
• This process must be conducted carefully and thoroughly to ensure that
crucial evidence is collected and fragile evidence is not destroyed in the
process.
Relevance of evidence
• The more thorough the crime scene team is at conducting its job, the
more likely it is to accurately determine the facts of the case.
• The quality of the evidence and the manner in which it is handled will
also impact the ability of the prosecutor to argue the facts of the case
and ultimately the magistrate’s ability to come to conclusions
regarding guilt or innocence.
Forensic Science-Definition
• The application of scientific knowledge to aid in the administration of
justice
• The application of science to those criminal and civil laws that are
enforced by the police agencies in a criminal justice system.
• Forensic Science is a multidisciplinary subject, it encompasses various
fields of science such as chemistry, biology, physics, geology,
psychology, social science, engineering, etc.
Need of Forensic Science in Criminal
Investigations
• Forensic science is that piece without which the puzzle of a criminal
investigation is incomplete.
• Without the application of forensic science, criminals can never be
convicted unless an eyewitness is present.
• While detectives and law enforcement agencies are involved in the
collection of evidence, be it physical or digital, it is forensic science
that deals with the analysis of those evidence in order to establish
facts admissible in the court of law.
Forensic science explains
• (who) of the suspect who committed the crime.
• the nature (what) of the crime committed.
• time (when) of the incident.
• location of the offence (where/crime scene).
• the method (how) of the offender.
Mumbai serial rapist-murderer case

• Rehan Qureshi who was a serial killer in Navi Mumbai and alleged to have raped several
minor girls among which two of them died particularly two and nine years old.
• This case was one of the intense cases of Navi Mumbai as it took 8 long years of
dedicated detective work by the Mumbai police to provide justice to the minors. The
atmosphere in that area remained in a panic until Rehan Qureshi was convicted.
• In June 2010, three girls were raped & murdered between the age of 5 & 9 and the
whole police department was under pressure to solve the case. One among the victims
was found in a gunny bag while another victim was found on the terrace of police
quarters.
• Everyone panicked if a girl was late in reaching home for even an hour, parents raised an
alarm, and was the only case talked about in the city. Police investigated hard, checked
into mental hospitals looking for missing inmates, checked into history sheeters, spread
their informers, etc. but no clue was to be found.
Mumbai serial rapist-murderer case

• Then the police took the help of the Maharashtra Forensics lab. With their help,
they conducted more than 500 DNA tests across the suspected areas of all
suspected persons including the son of a senior official who became a suspect as
the police took no chances.
• This effort didn’t lead them to the killer.
• The case remained unsolved for a long period of time until a series of sexual
assaults of minors began again 20 km away from Kurla (where other girls were
killed) in 2017.
• This time police had additional help of CCTV and narrowed it down to a suspect
wearing a blue shirt and always on the phone call probably listening rather than
talking suspecting him probably to be a salesman. Although caught in the camera,
he was still not to be found and every week a new assault case was registered.
Mumbai serial rapist-murderer case

• On September 26, police in civil clothes, roamed around Mira road

near Naya Nagar area where he was constantly seen after committing
a crime. One of the police officers spotted him and his blood sample
was sent to the forensics lab.
• The Forensic Lab had already conducted 880 tests costing them 40
lakh rupees and when another sample was sent to the lab, the FSL
official smiles and responds, “Test no. 881 was a match”.
Neeraj Grover Murder case

• Neeraj Grover was a television executive working in a Mumbai-based production house

namely Synergy Adlabs. In 2008, he was helping Maria Susairaj to establish herself in the
film industry. Maria was in a relationship with Lieutenant Emil Jerome Mathew and was
going to be engaged in 2 months.
• On 6 May 2008, Neeraj Grover went to meet Maria and was never found again. At that
time, Maria Susairaj was shifting to her new rented apartment and Neeraj was helping
her. On that day when Neeraj didn’t return home for 24 hours, his parents filed a missing
report.
• Police suspected Maria Susairaj in the incident and interrogated her but she refused to
know about the whereabouts of Neeraj Grover. She continued with the same story for 8-
10 days until she accepted that her boyfriend, Mathew had him killed in her presence.
Neeraj Grover Murder case
• She told police that Neeraj Grover was killed by his boyfriend in the heat
of the moment as he saw Neeraj with Maria in a compromising position
and stabbed him to death. After the murder, both of them conspired to
cut his body and fit in a bag and then drove in a friend’s car (Santro) to the
outskirts of Mumbai and dumped the body after burning it.
• Although, it wasn’t enough as sufficient evidence to link them with the
crime was required. Thus, the Forensics lab was called upon to match the
evidence. In the absence of any eyewitness, Forensic science played a
huge role in convicting the suspects.
Neeraj Grover Murder case
• The dependency on forensics examination can be determined by the fact that the Forensics
scientific officer was called upon more than 20 times in court to reveal the procedure used
in the examination of evidence.
• The official told the court that, “the bloodstains on most of the surfaces in the apartment
were cleaned, yet with utmost care and precision they were able to collect DNA samples
from washed bloodstains.”
• The Forensics official added that “The charred bones of Neeraj were insufficient to identify
him but forensics experts collected three teeth, femur bones, and some other residue so as
to extract the DNA sample from it. They were matched positively with his parent’s DNA.”
• Then again the mud collected from the tire treads was forensically matched with the
secondary crime scene(where the body parts were found) to connect the links. The mud
traces also matched with the mud sample of the area where Neeraj’s body was disposed.
Forensic science
PRINCIPLES of FORENSIC SCIENCE
The principle of individuality -Nature gives individuality to everything,
whether it is natural or man made
The exchange principle-Edmond Locard states that “Whenever two entities
come in contact with each other, they exchange the traces between them.” 
The law of progressive change-Change is the only constant.  Nothing remains
permanent and as it is
The law of comparison-Only the likes can be compared
The law of circumstantial facts-Facts do not lie, man can, and do
The law of probability- All identification is made on the basis of probability
Principle of Analysis- the analysis can be no better than the sample