Armed with a court order to the effect, the CBI on Saturday subjected former media top gun Peter Mukerjea to polygraph (lie detection) test to unravel the entire conspiracy behind his stepdaughter Sheena Bora’s murder.
The test was conducted at the Central Forensic Science laboratory (CFSl) here and the CBI is awaiting the report to corroborate his testimonies given to the sleuths during custodial interrogation. Mukerjea has been evasive during the custodial interrogation by CBI following which the agency sought permission from a designated court to put him to polygraph test.
Several questions about the crime, his conversations with his wife Indrani and his own statements given to the CBI sleuths were put to him during the scientific examination.
Although polygraph test report is not admissible under the Evidence Act, the findings often help the investigative agencies in sewing up the loose ends, officials said.
The test, sources said, was necessitated as Mukerjea purportedly changed his versions a number of times on key aspects of the murder mystery and his answers were not credible in the light of the available material with the agency.
During the test, only CFSl scientists were present when the 60-year Mukerjea was posed with a list of questions presented by the CBI. Answers to some of the questions during the session indicated deception but no inference can be drawn as yet since the report is still awaited, sources said.
The deception if any on part of Mukerjea could be ascertained after the agency receives the complete report from the CFSl.
The lie detection technique is based on the principle of physiological changes occurring in the body of the subject when questions related to any crime are put across.
CBI has subjected Mukerjea to intense questioning since November 19 when he was taken into custody. The agency is probing a number of angles so as to ascertain the motive behind Sheena’s murder.
The questions to him have so far been related to alleged siphoning off funds from the media house founded by him and Indrani, parking of the funds overseas, relations between family members, missing details of Sheena and his conversations with his son Rahul.
Sheena (24), Indrani’s daughter from an earlier marriage, was allegedly killed by her mother, her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her former driver Shyamvar Rai in April 2012.
Peter will be produced before a special court in Mumbai on Monday that granted him to CBI custody. His present remand comes to an end on Monday unless extended by the court.