CBI may have lost her swabs forever.

THE VAGINAL swabs of Arushi Talwar, a crucial piece of evidence in the murder of the Noida teenager, could be lost forever.

The Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics ( CDFD), Hyderabad, received slides of swabs supposedly belonging to Arushi a good two months after her murder in May 2008.

During this time, the swabs were handled by several people -- from pathologists to doctors to police officers with dubious records. Any of them could have swapped the slides.

" The CBI sent us slides supposedly containing the swabs of Arushi. But we concluded that the samples did not belong to the victim," a senior CDFD official from Hyderabad said on Thursday. " We informed the agency about it last year. But it has not got back to us with any other sample. This could mean the original sample has been lost for good." If that is indeed the case, the investigation into one of the most talkedabout murders in recent times could have been fatally jeopardised.

Fresh swabs cannot be obtained as Arushi's body was cremated with disconcerting haste on May 16, the day she was found murdered in her apartment.

Among the people who handled the swabs are Dr Sunil Dore, who conducted the autopsy; constables Pawan and Rajpal; Data Ram, the station house officer of Noida Sector 39 police station who was later suspended; Navnit and Vikas, the lab technicians at Noida District Hospital's pathology lab; the hospital's pathologist Dr Ritcha Saxena and an expert panel of doctors at All- India Institute of Medical Sciences.

On Wednesday, CBI director Ashwani Kumar set up a new probe team.

He asked the sleuths to look closely into the swapping of the swabs and consider all those who handled the slides as suspects.

But the CBI has not clarified if it lodged a case of destruction of evidence after receiving the CDFD report.

The CDFD also finds it " extremely strange" that no blood samples of Arushi were sent along with the swabs. " Blood samples are usually taken during autopsy. But in this case, we received no blood sample," the official from Hyderabad said.

" We had to build Arushi's DNA profile using her parents' blood and by lifting blood spots from pieces of her stained bedsheet. The profile did not match with the vaginal swabs, leading us to conclude that they had been swapped." Arushi's father Dr Rajesh Talwar was initially arrested as a suspect, but the CBI had to let go of him for want of evidence. Sources said the new team will question him again.

THE SWAB SWAP

MAY 16, 2008/p><p>7 AM: Arushi Talwar is found dead 10 AM: Her body is taken to Noida District Hospital for autopsy /p><p>12 NOON: Dr Sunil Dore carries out the autopsy and hands the vaginal swabs to constables Rajpal and Pawan. They take it to station house officer Data Ram /p><p>4 PM: Cops bring slides back to hospital and hand them over to pathology lab technicians Navnit and Vikas, who claim to have given them to head of pathology, Dr Ritcha Saxena/p><p>MAY 17, 2008/p><p>Dr Saxena, who says she got the samples on May 17, claims the slides contain no semen. The slides remain with her for a month /p><p>MID- JUNE, 2008 /p><p>The CBI procures the slides and hands them over to a panel at AIIMS, where they remain for another month /p><p>MID- JULY, 2008/p><p>Slides are sent from AIIMS to CDFD, Hyderabad. The CDFD sends a report later, saying the samples do not match Arushi's DNA profile

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