The Uttar Pradesh government on Monday suspended the Director of the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) here for his allegedly "misleading and unconfirmed" report on the basis of which the State concluded that the suspicious white substance recovered from the UP Assembly was a dangerous explosive.
Director, FSL Lucknow, Shiv Bihari Upadhyay was suspended for reporting that the substance was an highly explosive material, pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN). Tests conducted by at the NIA at the Central FSL in Hyderabad claimed the substance was not a dangerous explosive but Silicon Oxide or quartz.
A government official said Mr. Upadhyay's report was erroneous, incomplete, misleading, and unconfirmed.
Mr. Upadhyay was also implicated for "misguiding higher officials" and testing the suspected material with kit that was beyond its expiry date (March 2016) and by persons who were not experts.
A probe has been launched against him which will be led by Director of vigilance department, Hitesh Awasthi.
Mr. Upadhyay will also be under scanner for allegations of wrongdoings and financial irregularities during his tenure in Patna FSL from 2008 to 2010.
The action against him is also an embarrassment for the Yogi Adityanath government as it had maintained that the substance was an explosive.
A major controversy erupted on July 14 when Mr. Adityanath informed the UP Assembly that a mysterious packet discovered under a bench in the House two days earlier was identified as PETN by forensic tests. Mr. Adityanath, while alleging a "terrorist conspiracy, promptly called for a probe by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
The government's claim was soon challenged after tests conducted at the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Agra, the only laboratory authorised to examine cases related to explosives in the state, had indicated that the substance was not PETN.
The government was, however, quick to dismiss the reports and maintained that mysterious substance was indeed a deadly explosive, PETN.
