Headlines
Sunanda murder case: Tharoor's aides to undergo polygraph test
New Delhi, May 20
A court here on Wednesday
allowed Delhi Police to conduct lie-detector tests in the Sunanda
Pushkar murder case on three suspects, closely associated with her
husband and former union minister Shashi Tharoor.
Metropolitan
Magistrate Sunil Kumar Sharma, during an in-camera proceeding, allowed
police to conduct the polygraph test on three suspects after the trio
give their consent.
Police had last week moved an application
seeking a lie detection test for the three suspects -- Tharoor's
domestic help Narayan Singh, his driver Bajrangi and his friend Sanjay
Dewan -- in the murder case.
According to sources, the court
directed police to inform the suspects two days before the date of
conducting the lie detector test.
It also directed police to allow the presence of the lawyers of the suspects during the process.
The
lawyers must remain in the premises where the test is conducted, where
they can hear the statements of their clients, the court said.
The
lawyers of the trio told the court that they were ready to undergo the
test but police had to follow proper guidelines issued by the Supreme
Court and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
The court has told police to follow the guidelines.
Earlier, police had questioned the three in the case.
Police in a fresh plea said the suspects were hiding some crucial facts, including about the injuries on Sunanda Pushkar's body.
Dewan's
lawyer Aman Sarin said his client was ready to undergo the test and
apprised the court that he has fully cooperated with the probe agency.
Giving
consent for the test, the defence counsel told the court that the
Supreme Court has said polygraph test was not a relied-upon evidence but
if police wanted to do this, their clients were ready to undergo the
process.
The lawyers requested the court to issue direction to
police to inform the court regarding the questions that will be asked
during the test.
Pushkar was found dead under mysterious
circumstances in a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014. Police
registered a murder case on January 1, 2015.