Court orders security for arms dealer after nod for polygraph test
NEW DELHI: A Delhi court on Wednesday said that the Central Bureau of Investigation can conduct polygraph test on controversial arms dealer Abhishek Verma, a witness in a 1984 antiSikh riots case, as he has consented to it.
Additional chief metropolitan magistrate Shivali Sharma directed the deputy commissioner of police to provide roundthe-clock security to Verma till the time he undergoes the test, after which the threat perception would be assessed again.
It said that the polygraph test should be conducted at an independent place and asked the CBI investigating officer to file a report on August 1, informing it as to when and where the agency proposed to conduct it.
During the hearing, the court recorded Verma’s statement giving consent to the test.
The court said that Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has thrice been given a clean chit by the CBI in the case, cannot be subjected to lie detection test for want of his consent.
Tytler had earlier refused to give consent to undergo lie detection test.
The case pertains to riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi which led to the killing of three people on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then PM Indira Gandhi.
The court had on May 9 said that the CBI’s plea for obtaining consent of Tytler and arms dealer Abhishek Verma for conducting lie detector test on them was maintainable.
The CBI’s plea for permission to conduct the test on Tytler and Verma was in pursuance to the court’s December 4, 2015 order in which it was mentioned that the lie-detection test may be conducted, if required.