By IANS,
New Delhi : From underworld don Abu Salem to the parents of murdered teen Aarushi Talwar, investigators have used narco tests, described by the Supreme Court Wednesday as “unwarranted intrusion of the personal liberty”, in a spate of high profile criminal cases:
– Abu Salem, underworld don and main accused in the 1993 serial blast in Mumbai, was subjected to narco-testing at the Bangalore Forensic Science Laboratory on Dec 28, 2005. Salem was asked 241 questions during the narco test, when a controlled administration of intravenous hypnotic medications called truth drugs is injected on a suspect to procure vital information. He is said to have admitted his association with underworld don Dawood Ibrahim during the test.
– Abdul Karim Telgi, a native of Belgaum in Karnataka, the prime accused involved in printing and circulating duplicate stamps and stamp papers, a multibillion rupee racker, was subjected to narco-analysis test in December 2003. The Special Investigation Team presented the findings of the narco-analysis test in court on Feb 10, 2004.
– Several narco-tests were conducted during the investigations into the murder of 14-year-old Aarushi and her domestic help Hemraj, whose bodies were found at their Noida house on May 16, 2008. Narco analyses were conducted on the two accused Raj Kumar and Krishna, out on bail for lack of evidence, as well as her parents, Nupur and Rajesh Talwar.
– Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur was arrested by the Mumbai Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in connection with the Malegaon blast in September 2008 that killed six people. She was arrested after it was found that the motorcycle used in the Malegaon blast belonged to her. Thakur underwent the scientific tests conducted by officials of the Forensic Science Laboratory in a hospital in south Mumbai.
– Punjabi businessman Moninder Singh Pandher and his domestic help Surinder Koli were both accused in the horrific 2006 Nithari serial killings. Both underwent extensive narco-analysis test as sleuths tried to unravel the truth behind the body parts of 19 women and children found in a drain behind Pandher’s bungalow.
– The two suspects involved in the 2006 Mumbai train blasts, Kamal Ahmed Vakil Ansari and Tanveer Ansari, underwent a narco anlysis test as well as a brain mapping test, a comprehensive analysis of brainwave frequency bandwidths.