Aaftab Amin Poonawala, accused of killing his live-in partner, will undergo a narco analysis test at a Rohini hospital here on Thursday as part of the ongoing investigation, officials said. According to officials, Poonawala reached the Dr Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini at 8.40 am. Before undergoing narco analysis test, a general check up would be done to check his blood pressure, plus rate, body temperature and heart beat. If all the required parameters are met, then the accused would be taken for narco analysis test, they said.
A consent form with complete details of Poonawala and the team conducting his narco test will be read out to him as part of the procedure. After he signs the form, the narco analysis procedure would be conducted, a senior official said.
Narco analysis involves intravenous administration of a drug (such as sodium pentothal, scopolamine, and sodium amytal) that causes the person undergoing it to enter into various stages of anaesthesia.
In the hypnotic stage, the person becomes less inhibited and is more likely to divulge information, which would usually not be revealed in the conscious state.
Investigating agencies use this test after other pieces of evidence do not provide a clear picture of the case.
The Delhi Police had earlier said it sought Poonawalla’s narco analysis test as his responses during interrogation were “deceptive” in nature.
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The Supreme Court has ruled that narco-analysis, brain mapping, and polygraph tests cannot be conducted on any person without his or her consent.
Also, statements made during this test are not admissible as primary evidence in the court, except under certain circumstances when the bench thinks that the facts and nature of the case permit it.
Twenty-eight-year-old Poonawalla allegedly strangled his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar and sawed her body into 35 pieces which he kept in a 300-litre fridge for almost three weeks at his residence in South Delhi’s Mehrauli before dumping them across the city over several days.
He was arrested on November 12 and sent to five-day police custody, which was further extended by five days on November 17. The court on November 26 sent him to judicial custody for 13 days.
(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)
