Badaun Rape Case: CBI to Seek DNA Test of Girls' Clothes

New Delhi: After failing to exhume the bodies of two teenagers who were allegedly gang-raped before being hanged alive in Uttar Pradesh's Badaun for a fresh autopsy, the Central Bureau of Investigation or CBI has now decided to send their personal belongings and vaginal swabs for DNA analysis at a laboratory in Hyderabad. (Badaun Case: Girl's Family Demands CBI Probe)

CBI sources said clothes and a few other personal belongings of the victims were collected by the agency from the family members on the suggestion of the three-member panel of forensic experts accompanying it. (Did Girls' Families Hold Back Crucial Information?)

Vaginal swabs collected by local doctors have also been seized by the agency, which will soon be sent to the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics in Hyderabad for DNA analysis, the sources said.

They said the Centre is likely to submit a report within a week to the agency.

A team of the CBI had visited the family of the two rape victims after it could not conduct a fresh autopsy. Rising water level of the Ganges River had inundated the graves of the two sisters and hampered the agency's efforts to exhume the bodies. (Badaun Case: Rape of One of the Cousins Not Confirmed, Says UP Top Cop)

Analysis of DNA collected from personal belongings of the two girls is expected to provide evidence about the rapists, said sources.

They added that the swabs can be stored for a long time and the results may not be affected by the delay.

The forensic experts first try to differentiate male and female cells in the swab by using a variety of chemicals. Later, from the male cells, they identify DNA in sperm cells. By cross-matching the DNA with samples collected from suspects, the forensic experts can identify the accused.

In the absence of a fresh autopsy, the medical board has to rely on analysis of DNA samples, which can be recovered from the personal belongings of the two girls.