Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina officially inaugurated the Forensic DNA Laboratory of CID, a specialised unit of Bangladesh Police, on January 23, 2017. Now, the DNA Laboratory has started its activities after being renamed DNA Bank from Monday last, said Additional SP (Media) of the CID Faruk Hossain.
Since its inception, the laboratory has done profiling of 20,000 DNAs from more than 16,000 evidence for nearly 6,000 cases, including rape, unidentified body identification, paternity dispute/settlement, robbery, and murder, which have been saved in the servers of LIMS (Laboratory Information Management System), he said.
The process of DNA profiling started from January 2014 following a court order. Forensic DNA Laboratory of Bangladesh Police had received first evidence (alamot) on February 15 that year.
The profiles of the criminals stored in the DNA bank play an important role in identifying the person. So far, about 15,000 profiles related to various cases are stored in the bank. “These will help to easily identify the suspects later,” Additional SP Faruk Hossain said.
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The DNA profiles of the criminals stored in the forensic DNA laboratory play a very important role in investigation. Analysing of all the clues related to criminal and civil cases is done at Forensic DNA labs. To date, with the help of DNA Lab, CID and Bangladesh Police have been able to solve numerous cases.
At present, forensic DNA labs receive hundreds of cases from various courts and police stations across the country and send reports within the stipulated time. By analysing the DNA profiles stored in the DNA Database, it is possible to identify a missing or unidentified person if the claimant or relative of the unknown or missing person is found.
The Forensic DNA Laboratory of Bangladesh Police project, funded by JDCF of Japan government, started in August 2011 and ended in June 2015.