CBI court on Friday gave its approval for Narco-analysis test of the five accused, who were arrested by SIT of Himachal Pradesh police, before the probe was taken over by the central investigation agency.
All the five accused lodged in judicial custody for more than a month were produced in the court of Special CBI Judge, Varinder Singh and the proceedings of around 40 minutes were recorded in camera.
Advocate Sushil Negi, counsel for CBI said that the narco-analysis test of all the five accused was required to solve the puzzle of Kotkhai gang rape and murder case. Ravi Tanta and Amit Sharma, counsels for Ashish Chauhan made attempts to oppose the Narco-analysis test and said that the test might have adverse impact on the health of the accused in custody.
Ashish Chauhan is the only accused in the Kotkhai gangrape case, who has applied for a bail in HC of Himachal Pradesh. As the other four accused have no personal counsel, the State counsel appearing for them did not make any attempt to oppose the CBI plea for conducting Narco test on the accused. Declining the objections of Ashish Chauhan, the CBI court allowed the investigation agency to go ahead with the Narco-analysis test. The judicial nod of CBI court has cleared the way for Narco test of Ashish Chauhan, Rajinder Singh, Subhash Singh Bisht, lokpal and Deepak.
All the five accused would be taken to Delhi or Ahmedabad for the Narco-analysis test which is expected to bring new facts into light in the Kotkhai gangrape case, as the police officers, who had arrested these five, have already been arrested by the CBI. The SIT of Himachal Pradesh police, headed by the suspended IG ZH Zaidi, had arrested six people in Kotkhai gangrape and murder case but one of the accused Suraj, was murdered in the police custody allegedly by another accused.
Having taken over the probe of Kotkhai gangrape and murder case besides the murder case of Suraj, CBI had not given much time to questioning from the five accused and the agency had only got the post mortem conducted again on the body of the deceased accused Suraj.
The Narco-analysis test may bring relief to some of the accused, as serious apprehensions were made on the police theory for arresting the accused, majority of who were from lower strata of society.
The test may accelerate the probe as with the passage of time the CBI is likely to get other forensic reports also, the delay in which is creating hurdles for the investigation agency to reach a conclusion.