By S A Ishaqui
Hyderabad, Aug. 7: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday asked the Central Bureau of Investigation not to proceed further in conducting a lie-detector and brain mapping test on the Satyam Computer Services former chairman, Mr B. Ramalinga Raju, and his associates, Mr Rama Raju and Mr Vadlamani Srinivas, in the multi-crore scam till Wednesday.
The court was dealing with separate petitions filed by Mr Ramalinga Raju and his associates challenging the permission accorded by a lower court to the CBI for conducting the tests on them.
Mr C. Padmanabha Reddy, senior counsel, who
appeared on behalf of the petitioner strongly opposed the tests contending that they are highly invasive. While citing a judgment of the Supreme Court on conducting these tests, he said some investigators carried out the narcoanalysis and brain mapping tests without the consent of the accused. Mr Reddy argued before Justice G. Bhavani Prasad, that the CBI wanted to know the code of the personal computer used by Mr Ramalinga Raju through these tests.
“It can be done if it is voluntary and not through coercion. You cannot ask a person to be a witness against himself,” he contended. Mr Padamanabha Reddy told the court that one case was pending before a division bench of this court and another before the SC with regard to conducting narco tests. Till the final outcome of these cases the court cannot permit any agency to conduct tests against any accused in any case.
Mr T. Niranjan Reddy, special public prosecutor for the CBI, told the court the agency would not use the information that it got through the tests against the accused. Moreover, it would not be admissible in the court, he added.
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