Blow to CBI as court says no to lie-detection test of accused
JALANDHAR:THE Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday faced a blow in the case of car bomb blast at Dugri village near Bhogpur on December 5, 2015, after the CBI court in Mohali denied permission for a polygraph test of three accused lodged in the jail.
The CBI wanted these tests on the accused, Jagmohan Singh of Gadaipur, Hardeep Singh of Bholath and Harbhej Singh of Jiwan Nagar in Sirsa, which were on Wednesday denied by the court of Special Judicial Magistrate, CBI, Mohali. The court denied the permission citing a similar judgment of the court of judicial magistrate (first class) Mamta Kakkar announced on February 10, 2016.
The Jalandhar rural police had also sought permission for a lie-detector, narco-analysis, and brain mapping tests of three accused. But, the local court denied them permission in 2016.
Citing the same judgment, that once the application has already been dismissed then this fresh application is a misuse of process of the court. The CBI team had taken over the case from Jalandhar rural police in February 2017. They had recorded statements of three accused several times in the case, who are currently on bail.
The CBI claimed that to get the clear picture of the entire conspiracy of this bomb blast case, the accused are needed to undergo this test as they were concealing the facts of the case.
Defence counsel Mandeep Singh Sachdev argued that a similar application of a polygraph test had been dismissed. Moreover, his clients have been interrogated and grilled for more than hundred times by different officers of Punjab police and CBI.
After so much of grilling as per medical science, the test cannot be considered to be correct as it leaves an impact on the mind of the individual. After hearing the arguments, the court refused permission for the test. A polygraph test (popularly known as a lie-detector test) measures and records several physiological indices such as blood pressure, pulse, respiration and skin conductivity while the subject is asked to answer a series of questions.
THE CASE
On December 5, 2015 at Dugri village, 20 km from Jalandhar, a bomb explosion inside a Maruti Swift Dzire car killed Ajay Kumar and injured Jagmohan Singh, who faces three cases of murder and another of the drug trade.
The FIR was registered the same day at Maqsudan police station under Sections 302 (murder) 120-B (criminal conspiracy of IPC, 3, 4, 5 of Explosive Substance Act against six people.
Police investigation revealed that Jagmohan and victim Ajay had bought three tiffin bombs from Harbhej of Sirsa, who had procured these bombs from Mehanga Singh of Sirsa and Palwinder Singh of Delhi. The accused had kept these bombs with Hardeep Singh of Bholath.