Decipherment of the Written and Printed Matter on the Charred Document using UV and IR Under Different Wavelengths

Disputed documents in forensic investigations are the documents whose authenticity is suspicious or uncertain. Guilty people, most of the time, try to burn the essential documents to hide their criminal activities and wrong intentions. This is usually achieved by exposing the document to fire with or without the use of an accelerant like kerosene or petrol. These burnt documents maybe later on linked to a substantial act of forgery, fraud, ransoms or any other serious offense. Contemporary work has been attempted to study experimentally, certain critical documents such official stamps for the effect of burning on these documents and further how these charred documents can be subjected to the decipherment of any important matter. For this purpose, some official stamps with specific pre-written/pre-printed matter were considered in the study. The sample documents were first analyzed for their various characteristics and security features and then after charring. The charred were then appropriately gathered and were then analyzed under equipment projectina inspec-8 by utilizing diverse light sources (non-destructive sources) for example, UV, IR, and Retro-reflective light viewed under different wavelengths. Outcomes of this work have demonstrated that with the careful examination of the charred documents using appropriate nondestructive and specific light techniques like UV/IR and retro light, the charred matter can be retrieved up to the extent that can be used further criminological investigations. The writings were comparatively more visible under different wavelengths of lights. The results were recorded through proper photographic techniques.