first pvt forensic lab opens in Chennai city

In June, when Shanthi (name changed) began feeling weak by the day, she thought her husband was causing her some harm for the sake of her property. The local police told her they would not be able to register a complaint against him. Forensic expert Dr R Selvakumar then suggested she test her hair, nail and blood for toxicity. Two days later, the lab report showed an increased lead content in her blood, an indication that she was being slowly poisoned. Armed with the medical report, she again went to the police who arrested her husband. The case is being investigated. Almost the same week, an insurance firm asked Dr Selvakumar to say if one of its clients, whose family had submitted a claim saying he was hit by a train, had really died in an accident. "When a person is accidentally hit by a moving train, he would be thrown off and the kind of injuries are different. In this case, we saw a clear cut in the leg and neck. He was lying down on the track attempting suicide," said Dr Selvakumar. He and his colleague Dr N Srinivasa Ragavan decided to set up, for the first time in the state, Synergy medico legal Foundation (www.synergymlc.in), that was launched on Monday. It will, they claimed, help men scientifically clear doubts about their wives' fidelity, help clients claim insurance bills, help insurance firms weed out fake claims, assist doctors draft counters in courts in negligence cases and even help lawyers frame questions for cross-examination in criminal cases. "We have been working in the sector for several decades. We often notice that advocates do not cross-examine doctors. We can even offer key questions and points to lawyers and the relevant Sections of IPC or CRPC they can be mentioned under. The reports foundation gives a report that may not be valid in the court but as experts we can be produced as witness. But as experts, we can be produced as witness," said Dr Ragavan.

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