‘SC ruling on narco-tests won’t impact key cases’

“These are not going to be affected by the Supreme Court ruling. The practice in the CBI is exactly what the SC has said in the ruling. The narco-analysis and polygraph are conducted with the consent of the accused,” said a senior CBI official.

He said a polygraph test was conducted on Suhrid Dutta,a CPM zonal committee leader in Singur and one of the main accused in Tapasi Malik murder case,only after he gave his consent before a magistrate.

But there have also been instances in which the accused denied his consent.

For instance,in 2008,the agency faced difficulty while pursuing a case in Mizoram. A case was registered with the CBI after a school principal went missing. The local police zeroed in on the secretary of the school managing committee.

After the CBI took over the probe,it opted for a narco-test and got the consent of the suspect,who backtracked when taken before the magistrate of a local court in Gandhinagar. The CBI team had to return.

Some officials in the CBI said the apex court ruling might delay cases in which narco-tests or polygraph were used as investigative tools.

The state CID has conducted narco-analysis in two cases — one in 2004 in Bauria in Hooghly and another in Bongaon in North 24-Parganas in 2007. The Bauria case was about a father who allegedly abducted and killed his adopted son while the Bongaon case involved an alleged ISI agent.

A senior CID official said,“At present,we do not opt for these tests as it is a long process and involve a lot of money,about Rs 60,000-70,000 which is generally spent from the government coffers. As of now,we have no case in which we have opted for a narco-test or brain-mapping,” said a deputy inspector general of CID.

Rajeev Kumar,joint commissioner of police (Special Task Force) of Kolkata police,also said they will never choose go for these investigative tools without the consent of the accused.