Tytler told to make clear stand on lie-detector test

A court here on Tuesday asked Congress leader Jagdish Tytler and arms dealer Abhishek Verma to record their consent on a plea seeking lie-detector test in connection with a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.

Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shivali Sharma directed Tytler and Verma to make their stand clear -- either by personally appearing before the court or through an affidavit on May 22 -- whether they would undergo a lie-detector test.

The court observed that neither of them had given clear answer to the CBI plea seeking the court's permission for conducting polygraph tests on Tytler and Verma in the case, in which Tytler is accused of leading a mob in Pul Bangash area in 1984 that led to the killing of three Sikhs.

Tytler, a senior Congress leader, has refused to undergo a polygraph test in the anti-Sikh riots case, contending that the CBI had not given any specific reason in its application seeking a lie-detector test.

Verma, listed as a witness in the case, had told the court that he was ready for the polygraph test if provided adequate security, as he apprehended threat to his life as well as to his family.

The agency's move came after Verma alleged that Tytler tried to influence a witness, Surender Singh, with money and promised to send his son Narender Singh to Canada.

The premier investigating agency had earlier given a clean chit to Tytler in the case but reopened the investigation following a December 4, 2015, court order in the wake of Verma's allegations.

The court had also directed the agency to find out whether Verma's statement was authentic.

-- IANS

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