Sunanda murder case: Court allows police’s polygraph test plea
New Delhi: A city court today allowed the Delhi Police to conduct lie-detector test on three “suspects” in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case.
The court’s order came after the three suspects– Shashi Tharoor’s domestic help Narain Singh, driver Bajrangi and friend Sanjay Dewan — said they were willing to undergo the polygraph test.
“Application for polygraph test on the three suspects is allowed, subject to NHRC and the Supreme Court guidelines,” Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Kumar Sharma said.
During the hearing, the police told the court that these three persons were examined during the investigation but they are hiding some crucial facts.
“They are not disclosing all the facts. They are hiding some crucial facts regarding the injuries on Sunanda Pushkar’s body,” the police claimed.
The counsel appearing for the three suspects told the court that their clients have fully cooperated with the police.
“The Supreme Court has said that this (polygraph test) is not a relied upon evidence but if the police wants to do this, we are giving the consent,” the counsel said.
The counsel also told the magistrate that police should inform the court regarding the questions which they want to ask during the test.
“My clients are ready to undergo the polygraph test because we don’t want to give the impression that we are running away from the probe,” the counsel said.
The police, in its plea, had urged the court to initiate proceedings of polygraph test on the three suspects saying they were hiding material facts relating to the case.
Police had said that during investigation, several persons including Narain, Bajrangi and Dewan were examined as they were closely associated with Tharoor and Pushkar, and were also present at Hotel Leela Palace just before her death.
“During investigation, it has been found that the three persons are concealing material facts and did not disclose several issues related to the death of Sunanda Pushkar,” the plea filed by SHO of Sarojini Nagar Police Station had said.
PTI