Students Visit the Central Bureau of Investigation

About 40 students from various departments in Jamia, went on an educational visit to the headquarters of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in Delhi on Thursday, March 15, 2012.

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The tour was part of a CBI initiated program in which they have asked students from many schools and universities in Delhi to visit their offices and get a feel for the inner-workings of the CBI. To what purpose, however, is something the CBI did not clearly state in their presentation, which was conducted by Mr. Sujeet Pandey, who introduced himself as a DIG, and Ms. Dharini Mishra, the CBI chief information officer.

The presentation was titled “Fight Against Corruption” that talked about the ill-effects of corruption in society, and what an ordinary citizen can do to fight it.

The tour also included a visit to the famed CBI Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL-CBI), which, by the way, is not located within the new swanky looking CBI building on Lodhi Road, but is situated in a different, relatively run-down building nearby in the CGO Complex.

At the CBI forensics lab, students were introduced to the different methods and techniques CBI makes use of in solving crimes.

Although CFSL has about a dozen divisions, the tour only included the following: Ballistics and Explosives Division, the Finger Print Division, the Chemistry Division, the Physics Division, the Document Division, the Forensic Psychology Division, and the Computer Forensic Division.

At every lab visited at the CFSL, a forensic expert talked about his line of expertise. The lab that garnered the most interest among the students, however, was the Ballistic and Explosives Division. At this lab, in the center of the room, a large table was placed with a wide range of firearms and explosives on display. Using the firearms and explosives on display as visual aid, he talked about the the ways firearms are classified and some of the terminology used in association with it. For instance, the difference between a pistol and a revolver, the meaning of the term “caliber,” straight shooting barrels and ridged barrels, components of a bomb, and a lot more.

He also talked about the techniques they use in figuring out the weapon used to commit a crime. This is done by way of a ballistic analysis, which is like a fingerprint every bullet makes when it is shot.

The most exciting part of the entire presentation came when the expert talked  about the bombs on display. Among the several types of explosives on the table, there was a grenade that had some sort of a lever/handle that you squeezed on before you took the pin out. And as long as you held onto that handle, the bomb would not explode.

During his presentation, the expert picked up a live grenade — a fact he had clearly stated — then squeezed on the handle, and took the pin from the grenade out. Holding the grenade in his hand, he said, if he let the handle go, the grenade will explode in 3.5 seconds. After which, he calmly put the pin back into the grenade and placed it back on the table.

Visits to the document forgery lab and to the fingerprinting lab were also among the more interesting labs.

Student Feedback

Speaking to Jamia Journal at the end of the visit, Ms. Insha Imtiyaz, a graduate student in the department of psychology said, because of this visit  to the CBI office, she has learned how the CBI works and now believes the CBI is truly an effective agency working hard to protect us.

“My perception [of the CBI] has changed,” she said, “They are really working. They are doing something against corruption and the evil present in the society today.”

Expressing similar views, Ms. Gowsia Saleem, a graduate student in the department of political science said: “After this trip to the CBI, I personally came to know … what CBI is, in the real sense of the term. It was indeed a very good and memorable trip.”

Scenes From the Event:

*click on an image to enlarge.