Crime branch sends jail footage to forensic department

Mumbai: In order to ascertain if the footage of the assault and murder of Byculla Jail inmate Manju Shetye on Friday followed by the rioting and arson by prison inmates on Saturday against the murder can be retrieved, the Mumbai crime branch has sent the Digital Video Recorder (DVR) to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL). This comes amid the reports of CCTV cameras inside the barracks getting damaged during the riots in the prison.

Officials said that the CCTV footage inside the prison barracks is a crucial piece of evidence and a detailed forensic analysis will help find if the footage is intact or not.

The forensic experts will inform the police if the footage could be retrieved in case the DVR has been badly damaged.

The FSL authorities are yet to begin working on the submitted exhibits, sources said.

The Nagpada police, who had registered the murder case of slain prison inmate Manu Shetye alias Deepa, had collected over a dozen exhibits from the crime scene on Saturday.

Officials said that there are several CCTV cameras inside the barracks where Shetye’s murder took place on Friday and the riots broke out on Saturday and they seem to have captured the incidents.

Preliminary investigation in the incident revealed that the prisoners had damaged most CCTVs in the prison during the rioting.

Police also said that the arson might have damaged the DVR in which the captured footage is recorded, however its status is yet to be ascertained.

The investigation of the murder case has been transferred to the Mumbai crime branch and an assistant ins-pector level lady officer will conduct the probe.