By IANS,
Bangalore/New Delhi : Krishna, compounder of Rajesh Talwar – father of slain teenager Aarushi – was Thursday subjected to narco-analysis test for over five hours at Bangalore’s state-run Bowring hospital to get possible clues to the sensational May 16 Noida double murders.
“The test lasted about five and half hours,” Bowring medical officer S. Rajanna told IANS.
The test report will be given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) that is now probing the double murders.
Krishna was questioned by a team led by Malini, assistant director of Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) in Bangalore, after he was administered anaesthetics and other drugs to make him respond to queries uninhibitedly.
“As the case is being handled by CBI, we will not able to reveal much on the tests and his (Krishna’s) responses. A detailed report will be prepared by FSL on the basis of tests and given to CBI,” Rajanna said.
CBI sources, however, said Krishna’s replies may not lead to any major breakthourgh in the case.
CBI has not named Krishna as a suspect though he has been in the bureau’s custody for over ten days now.
On Wednesday he was subjected to brain-mapping and polygraph (lie detector) tests at FSL.
CBI suspects Krishna was familiar with the second murder victim, the Talwar’s domestic help Hemraj, and may have also known details about the relationship between the Talwars and their business partners the Durranis.
The Noida police, which was handling the case earlier, had alleged that Rajesh Talwar was having an affair with Anita Durrani and was upset because Aarushi came to know about it. Anita Durrani has denied the allegation.
CBI sleuths justified detention of Krishna and bringing him to Bangalore for narco-analysis, saying his previous depositions were contradictory.
“He was examined by our officers on the basis of statements he made earlier to the Noida police. As there were contradictions in his statements, we have decided to bring him to Bangalore for brain-mapping and narco-analysis to ascertain whether he is involved in the incident or has clues about the perpetrator,” a top CBI official told reporters here.
On the controversy whether CBI had permission of a court to subject Krishna to narco-alalysis, the agency joint director Arun Kumar said: “Wednesday we moved an application in the Ghaziabad court asking for permission to carry out narco test on Krishna. The court had passed an order saying that all scientific tests could be conducted on Krishna. We also have the consent of Krishna.”
Malini told reporters that the FSL had declined to conduct the narco-analysis Wednesday as CBI did not have the necessary documents. “We have to receive official papers for any process to be conducted. We have permission. We received it late last (Wednesday) evening,” she said.
Meanwhile, CBI director Vijay Shankar lashed out at the media for its coverage of the murders and warned it would face legal action if it obstructed the probe.
“Media should not raise obstructions in the case and must remain within its limits. If it crosses the limits then CBI would keep reminding you (media persons) to stay within limits,” Shankar told the media outside the CBI headquarters in New Delhi.
“If any one person, whether a simple man, a CBI official or person in a specific business tries to obstruct the investigations, he would be dealt with accordingly to rules and law,” he warned.
Shankar expressed his anger over the news in a certain section of media, “especially in the visual media”, that a 1993-batch Indian Police Service (IPS) official, deputy inspector general Zaki Ahmed, has been sent on a month’s leave for leaking information in the notorious Noida double murder case.
The media reports claimed that Ahmed and some other officials had leaked some confidential information to a particular media house.
“No official has been moved out. Ahmed is wonderful officer and he had applied for leave one month ago due to personal reasons. It has been brought to my knowledge that some sections of media especially the visual media are running wrong news and are interfering in the investigations,” Shankar said.
When asked if Rajesh Talwar, father of Aarushi Talwar and arrested for the double murder, and his compounder Krishna are still suspects in the case, Shankar said: “Investigations are going very satisfactorily and I’ll not comment on this.”
Earlier Thursday, Krishna’s lawyer was attacked when he was going to a special court in Ghaziabad, as he was trying to file a petition on behalf of Krishna despite a shutdown called by the local lawyers’ association.
The incident occurred when the lawyer, Praveen Rai, and his local aide F.C. Sharma were going to the special magistrate (CBI) court to know if Krishna was an accused or a witness in the case.
Senior lawyer Bhartendu Sharma said: “As the lawyers had announced a strike in Ghaziabad courts, the two were intercepted and their papers were torn.”