The Hindu : Front Page : CBI claim clashes with C-DIT findings

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Wednesday, Jul 08, 2009
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CBI claim clashes with C-DIT findings

C. Gouridasan Nair

Video tapes on narco analysis in Abhaya case
CBI says the tapes are genuine, original ones

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The reported claim of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that the video tapes relating to the narco analysis in the Abhaya case it had presented to the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, Ernakulam, and for subsequent analysis by experts at the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology (C-DIT) here are genuine and original versions runs counter to the findings of the experts at the premier centre for imaging technology under the Government of Kerala.

The experts at C-DIT, who had examined the three tapes at the Centre’s facility here in the presence of the Advocate Commissioner appointed by the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court and an officer of the CBI, had found ‘enormous edit cuts and dissolves’ in the tapes.

After examining the tapes, the C-DIT team had concluded that ‘all the three video tapes brought for conversion and analysis are not original OR Camera master because if it was original, we would not have observed audio or video editing.

CBI claim

The CBI, after investigation at the Forensic Science Laboratory in Bangalore (where the narco analysis was done) and interacting with the present and former laboratory authorities, had reportedly concluded that the tapes had not been subjected to manipulation of any kind and submitted a report to that effect before the CJM Court, clearly questioning the C-DIT experts’ conclusion that the tapes documenting the narco analysis of Fr. Thomas Kottoor, Fr. Jose Puthrikayil and Sr. Sephy, the three accused in the case, were subjected to an unusually high amount of audio and video editing even within short timelines of one or two minutes, something that only an expert can do.

In their report, the C-DIT team had cited specific examples of editing with the timeline where it had been done, which would imply that the exact points of the cuts would prove crucial in the investigation in the case.

The C-DIT team had found as many as 30 edit cuts and 2 dissolves in two minutes in the video of the narco analysis being done on Fr. Kottoor, 19 edit cuts and 4 dissolves in the tape relating to the narco analysis of Fr. Puthrikayil and 23 edit cuts in the tape on Sr. Sephy.

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