Orders on lie detection plea on July 9

The XIV additional chief metropolitan magistrate on Saturday reserved the orders on the plea filed by the CBI, seeking permission to administer lie detection test on Satyam Computer Services Limited founder B Ramalinga Raju, his brother and former managing director and former Chief Financial Officer Srinivas Vadlamani, to July 9.

The CBI counsel argued that they must be allowed to administer the lie detection test to take the investigation further. However, observations of the lie detection test will not be admissible in the court.

According to the CBI counsel, the accused in the Satyam case had revealed certain aspects when their statements were recorded. However, they were not co-operative in putting the facts together. Therefore, CBI sought a lie detection test. The test would help in investigating the possibility of diversion of funds.

The defence counsel, represented by senior lawyers Padmanabh Reddy, Prakash Reddy and Nalin Kumar, argued that there was no need for any such scientific test as the accused had already been interrogated by the investigating agency and the chargesheet has been filed.

They argued that the accused has a constitutional right to remain silent and cannot be subjected to any kind of pressure to extract information relating to the case.