A Simple and Cogent Forensic Technique to Trap and Nab a Bribe-Seeking Corrupt Public Servant ‘Blue-Handed’

Abstract

For strengthening the legal system of justice against the menace of bribery, a highly cogent and sensitive forensic technique has been developed using an indicator dye of triphenylmethane group---Bromocresol green (BCG)---as corruption marker. By means of BCG, a bribe-seeker can be so firmly trapped that not only his/her hand or finger(s) get colored blue upon treatment with water, that even the shirt's pocket as well as some of the coercively-received currency notes also get tainted with deep blue color. The new technique replaces the age-old use of phenolphthalein for trapping the bribe-seeker wherein, when bribe-taker's hand is dipped in sodium carbonate solution a pink color is produced. The necessity for a new and cogent technique has become desirable because owing to several procedural deficiencies and techno-legal lacunae as pointed out in various High Courts’ and Supreme Court's judgments, and also because of the instability of the pink color generated by phenolphthalein and alkali, the trapped-and-convicted persons are quite often set free upon appeals. But the sturdy blue color produced by BCG is of highly stable in nature which firmly and truly ratifies the “Locard's Exchange Principle” of forensic science. The strong blue spots specially on the hand or fingers and the blue-spotted shirt pocket along with the blue-tinted currency notes, can all act collectively as strong incriminating legal evidence(s) against the trapped person. Unlike phenolphthalein, sodium carbonate is not required in the BCG method to generate the color (blue) either in water or on other (hard) objects. Moreover, any additional stabilizer like hydroquinone, etc., is also not required either for storing the blue solution, or for safekeeping the blue-spotted hard materials like shirt, handkerchief, or currency notes for showing them in the court of law at appropriate stage. Since the BCG-produced blue color on the currency notes is of utmost stability and can not be wiped away by ordinary means, a special method has also been reported to safely remove (conceal) the blue spots from the currency notes used in the ‘Operation BCG’. Having all these (hard) bluish objects in the hands of anti-corruption bureau (ACB) as irrefutable evidences against the accused, there is hardly left any need for safekeeping the blue-colored water solution (the liquid obtained after dipping trapped person's hand in water).