Sunanda murder case: Tharoor's aides to undergo polygraph test

New Delhi: A court here on Wednesday allowed Delhi Police to conduct lie-detector tests in the Sunanda Pushkar murder case on three suspects, closely associated with her husband and former union minister Shashi Tharoor.

Metropolitan Magistrate Sunil Kumar Sharma, during an in-camera proceeding, allowed police to conduct the polygraph test on three suspects after the trio give their consent.

Police had last week moved an application seeking a lie detection test for the three suspects -- Tharoor's domestic help Narayan Singh, his driver Bajrangi and his friend Sanjay Dewan -- in the murder case.

According to sources, the court directed police to inform the suspects two days before the date of conducting the lie detector test.

It also directed police to allow the presence of the lawyers of the suspects during the process.

The lawyers must remain in the premises where the test is conducted, where they can hear the statements of their clients, the court said.

The lawyers of the trio told the court that they were ready to undergo the test but police had to follow proper guidelines issued by the Supreme Court and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).

The court has told police to follow the guidelines.

Earlier, police had questioned the three in the case.

Police in a fresh plea said the suspects were hiding some crucial facts, including about the injuries on Sunanda Pushkar's body.

Dewan's lawyer Aman Sarin said his client was ready to undergo the test and apprised the court that he has fully cooperated with the probe agency.

Giving consent for the test, the defence counsel told the court that the Supreme Court has said polygraph test was not a relied-upon evidence but if police wanted to do this, their clients were ready to undergo the process.

The lawyers requested the court to issue direction to police to inform the court regarding the questions that will be asked during the test.

Pushkar was found dead under mysterious circumstances in a luxury hotel in Delhi on January 17, 2014. Police registered a murder case on January 1, 2015.