Mrunal Manmay Dash

As the 12th-day obsequies of late Naba Das was underway in Jharsuguda on Thursday, Odisha Crime Branch conducted polygraph test of accused Gopal Das at Gandhinagar in Gujarat.

While 11 days have passed after the gruesome murder of Naba Das at Brajarajnagar, the Crime Branch (CB) is yet to make any headway in ascertaining the exact motive behind the murder, despite accused Gopal Das confessing to his crimes.

Gopal is currently on remand of the CB for the third time and has been taken to the Directorate of Forensic Science (DFSL) in Gandhinagar for polygraph test. A Narco Analysis test will also be conducted on Gopal following polygraph.

As per a CB press release, “First round of polygraph test of accused was held at SFSL, DFSL Gandhinagar, Gujarat as per the orders of the JMFC-I, Brajarajanagar. It will continue tomorrow. Narco test will also be conducted tomorrow after detailed medical examination of the accused. An 8-member team led by the Investigation Officer DSP Ramesh Chandra Dora is camping at Gandhinagar for the tests.”

As far as the Narco Test is concerned, a chemical loosely known as ‘Truth Serum’ is injected into the subject intravenously to let them slip into a sub-conscious state. After that the probing agency darts questions to get answers.

As per the experts, the results of Polygraph and Narco tests hold little weight in the court of law.

“These tests are non-admissible in a court of law. They cannot be treated as evidences. The police are conducting them because they do not have anything else to show that they are actually investigating the case,” said, former Odisha Police DG, Sanjeev Marik.

“If the CB is probing only Gopal Das, I do not think it will provide any result, because Gopal is yet to open his mouth,” said lawyer, Prashant Sahoo.

Meanwhile, the financial transaction of the accused and his family matters are also being verified and analyzed by a team of CB. The documents and evidences collected by various teams are being scrutinized and analyzed to ascertain the motive of the murder.

While it will be premature to conclude anything as of now, it remains to be seen if the police can extract anything from Gopal Das on the actual motive behind the killing through these tests.

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