The Hindu : Front Page : Lab says it gave three CDs to CBI

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Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008
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Lab says it gave three CDs to CBI

High Court questions CBI officer, reserves its order in Abhaya case

Kochi: The Director, Forensic Science Laboratory, Bangalore, informed the Kerala High Court on Tuesday that three separate compact discs (CDs) on the narco-analysis procedure conducted on each of the three suspects in the Sister Abhaya case had been handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).

CBI’s Deputy Superintendent of Police R.K. Agarwal, who appeared before Justice V. Ramakumar, however, said the investigation agency had received only one compact disc from the laboratory. He produced before the court a copy of the covering letter he received from the laboratory along with the CD. The covering letter mentioned only about ‘CD’ without using the plural form.

When the case was taken up for hearing, the court mentioned about a message it directly received from the laboratory and said what the CBI officer had stated before the court was false. The petition was filed by M. Thomas, father of Abhaya seeking to produce the progress report of the CBI investigation in the case after the conduct of narco-analysis tests on the suspects.

To a question, Mr. Agarwal said it was the state government which had entrusted the investigation to the CBI. He said the state government had given a separate consent for the investigation in the case under the provisions of the Delhi Special Police Establishment Act. He said he would produce before the court the notification issued in 1993 regarding the State government’s consent. After questioning him, the judge reserved his order .

Meanwhile, the court upheld an order of the Ernakulam Chief Judicial Magistrate’s Court rejecting a plea for directing the CBI to conduct further investigation in the case on the basis of the narco-analysis test results.

The magistrate court while dismissing the petition filed by Jomon Puthenpurackal had observed that the petition was another vain attempt to cling on to the matter. The High Court said that merely because courts in the State had in the past entertained certain petitions by the petitioner did not mean that the petitioner was an indispensable link in the administration of justice.

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