Mini FSL facility in Solapur to start functioning from Jan 17

The Directorate of Forensic Science Laboratories (DFSL) in Maharashtra on Thursday said that its mini-lab in Solapur will start functioning from Friday, which will help the police expedite their investigation.

In the last one year, four mini-labs have become operational in the state. The Solapur mini lab will be the fifth one. Similar facilities were commissioned in Thane, Chandrapur, Ratnagiri and Dhule in April last year, an FSL official said on Thursday.

The department of biology and toxicology will play a vital role in this new facility, he said.

"After the launch of the Solapur mini lab, the burden on Aurangabad and Pune labs will be reduced. We had referred around 5,000 cases to the toxicology and biology department in these two labs," Dr K V Kulkarni (Director) of the Kalina FSL told PTI.

"The police personnel have to travel 200 kms with forensic samples to Pune and Aurangabad labs, which is time- consuming. The new facility in Solapur will speed up the police investigation and help in increasing the conviction rate," he said.

The state currently has mini laboratories at 12 places- Mumbai, Nagpur, Pune, Aurangabad, Nashik, Amravati, Nanded, Kolhapur, Thane, Chandrapur, Ratnagiri and Dhule. The Solapur facility will be the 13th such.