Quoting unnamed sources, at least three regional television channels on Sunday claimed that the lie-detector test given to a witness in the bar licence renewal bribery case ‘corroborated’ the allegations of graft against Finance Minister K. M. Mani.
Vigilance and Anti-Corruption Bureau (VACB) investigators handling the case said they were not privy to the results of the polygraph test. The State Forensic Sciences Laboratory (FSL), which conducted the examination, was scheduled to submit their findings in court.
The VACB would not confirm or deny the reports. Officials said the test results were yet to be a public document. The subject and the investigating officer were entitled to a copy of the tests. The VACB was yet to get its copy.
Officials said they were sceptical of the veracity of the news that polygraph test had gone against Mr. Mani. “Legally, no such conclusion, as made out in news channels, could be drawn on the basis of a polygraph test,” a senior official said.
In the political sphere, the frantic ‘news breaks’ did not seem to bode well for the government’s public image. A maelstrom of conflicting arguments, for and against the government, engulfed the associated discussions that came in the wake of the ‘breaking news’ and riveting news scrolls.
The witness, Ambili, who was given the polygraph test, was an employee of the Kerala Bar Hotel Association (KBHA) working president, Biju Ramesh.
Only an FSL examiner, a doctor, and Ambili’s lawyer were present at the time of the test. The questionnaire was prepared on a factual analysis of Mr. Ambili’s accusation that he had witnessed Mr. Mani accept an instalment of the bribe from the KBHA president Raj Kumar Unni at the Minister’s official residence on a certain day in April.
He claimed that he had chauffeured Mr. Unni to Mr. Mani’s residence at the instance of Mr. Biju. The law only accepted polygraph results as secondary or corroborative evidence in criminal cases. However, crime investigators often relied on such tests as pointers to help narrow down their field of inquiry.
VS seeks resignation
Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan demanded the resignation of Finance Minister K.M. Mani in the light of the ‘results of the polygraph test.’ He said in a statement issued here that the result ‘implicated Mr. Mani in the bar licence renewal bribery case.’
VACB yet to confirm the outcome of FSL’s test
on a witness in the bar
bribery case
