Court to hear on Mar 30 CBI plea for polygraph test on Tytler

A Delhi court today said it would hear on March 30 arguments on CBI's plea seeking lie detection test on Congress leader Jagdish Tytler, who has been given a clean chit by the agency in a 1984 anti-Sikh riots case.
Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Shivali Sharma listed the matter for the next date as she had to go for a meeting and also directed the CBI to file on March 30 the status report on its further probe in the matter.
The CBI has sought permission to conduct lie detection test on Tytler and arms dealer Abhishek Verma for the purpose of further investigation.

The move came in pursuance to the court's December 4, 2015 order in which it was mentioned that lie detection test may be conducted, if required.
"The presence of these two persons namely, Abhishek Verma and Jadgish Tytler is necessary before this court to accord their consent about the polygraph test (lie detection test)," the plea has said.
Tytler has objected to the test, saying the CBI has not given any reason for conducting it and the agency's plea for the test was a "gross misuse of law" and it was filed with "malafide intention".

Verma, a witness in the case, has told the court that he was ready for the polygraph test if Tytler also agrees for it and said that he be provided with adequate security as he apprehends threat to his life as well as to his family.

The CBI prosecutor, however, had said the consent should be unconditional and there should not be any condition.
Earlier, senior advocate H S Phoolka, who represented riot victims, had said keeping in mind the background of the case, the witness should be provided adequate security.
The case pertains to riots at Gurudwara Pulbangash in north Delhi where three people were killed on November 1, 1984, a day after the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
Tytler, who has denied any role in the riots, has been given a clean chit by the CBI thrice in the case but the probe agency has been directed by the court to further investigate the matter.

Verma has made several statements to the CBI against the Congress leader that he allegedly pressured witnesses in the case.
The court had in December 2015 directed the CBI to further investigate the matter and had said it would monitor the probe every two months so that no aspect of the matter is left uninvestigated.
The agency had re-investigated the case of killing of Badal Singh, Thakur Singh and Gurcharan Singh near the gurudwara after a court in December 2007 refused to accept its closure report. The CBI has filed three closure reports in the case.