Shraddha murder: Narco test on Aftab within 5 days, says court

New Delhi, Nov 18: Aftab Poonawala, accused of murdering his live-in partner and chopping her into pieces in Delhi, will be presented for a narco analysis test withing five days.

Metropolitan Magistrate Vijayshree Rathore directed the Forensic Science Laboratory, Rohini, to allow the investigating officer (IO) for conducting the narco analytic test of the accused within five days.

"The IO is further directed not to use any third degree measures. MLC be prepared as per rules," the judge said in the order, a copy of which was accessed on Friday.

What is narco test?

The narco test involves the 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.

The term narco-analysis is derived from the Greek word narko (meaning anaesthesia or Torpor) and is used to describe a diagnostic and psychotherapeutic technique that uses psychotropic drugs, particularly barbiturates.

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.

The investigating agencies use this test after other evidence do not provide a clear picture of the case.

According to norms, the consent of the person is also necessary for being subjected to narco test.

The Supreme Court had ruled that narco analysis, brain mapping and polygraph tests cannot be conducted on any person without his or her consent. The top court had noted in response to petitions questioning the validity of such tests, are illegal and a violation of personal liberty.

However, statements made during narco analysis test are not admissible in the court, except under certain circumstances when the court thinks that the facts and nature of the case permit it.

Narco tests in India

The narco analysis test was most notably used in the 2002 Gujarat riots case, Abdul Karim Telgi fake stamp paper scam, the Nithari killings case in 2007 and the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack case on captured terrorist Ajmal Kasab.

Poonawala strangled his live-in partner Shraddha Walkar, 27, on May 18 and chopped off 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 past midnight. He was caught six months after the brutal kinng took place. The narco test may prove to be crucial in solving the case.