She is soft-spoken, has immense grace and wide eyes. No, she is not a dancer. She is Dr Malini, who is Lady Nemesis for many criminals, who are brought to the Forensic Lab in Bangalore.

The lady is in her early forties and can be easily mistaken for a classical dancer, with her grace and wide-set eyes. Ask any terrorist or criminal who has come under her ‘spell’ — he will have a different story to tell.

Under her scientifically analytical spell of 'Narco analysis' at the Forensic Sciences Lab at Madivala in Bangalore, several truths have tumbled out of hardcore terrorists. Dr Malini, who has been the assistant director of the lab since 1999, says as a teenager, she was influenced by the theories propounded by Sigmund Freud. “I was curious to know how our brain could carry out nearly 75 per cent of the tasks, most of the time unconsciously or in a partially conscious state!"

Malini did her M.Sc. in ‘Industrial and Clinical Psychology’ from Bangalore University and went on to obtain her Ph.D. with a four-year study on the subject ‘Alcoholism and wife battering’.

After Malini's marriage to Dr B K Muralidharan, Professor at UVCE, Malini did her 'residency' in Canada in the department of experimental hypnosis and learnt to conduct 'hypnosis' for both clinically analytical purposes and to study the psyche of criminals. In 1993, after her return to India, Dr Malini worked under Dr Mukundan at 'NIMHANS', Bangalore and was assigned the task of carrying out neurophysiological and electrophysiological studies on alcoholics.

In 1999, Dr Malini became the Assistant Director of the forensic lab. In the past eight years, she has attended on nearly 3,000 cases, from all over the country! For the last couple of years especially, the police officials in Mumbai, Calcutta etc have procured court orders to subject the accused to forensic science tests and thus Dr Malini's days have become hectic.

Malini recalls a few challenging cases which have assumed political significance such as that of Abdul Karim Telgi's multi crore financial fraud case. “ I spent nearly six to seven hours interviewing Telgi, even before the lie detection test so that I could analyse part of his psyche and the circumstances that led to the biggest ever stamp paper scam. Quite surprisingly most of the accused are very gentlemanly and answer all the queries! In fact it is so sad that most of the criminals have two sides to their personalities!"

Recalling another crime mystery solved by 'Narco analysis procedure', Dr Malini explains the brutal murder of an Indian born, Canadian gynaecologist Dr Asha in Mumbai. "In 2003, Dr Asha was asked to stay back in Mumbai for one more day by her brother. The lady, who had flown in to see her brother ailing from a kidney ailment, got murdered on the day of her extended stay! Mumbai police remained clueless and found it difficult to make any progress in the investigations since the lady doctor's brother and sister-in-law died of their ailments within six months of the lady's murder.

Revelation

The crime branch of Mumbai Police brought three persons working in the lady doctor's brother's house as suspects. Two of them confessed to the crime, when they were subjected to the forensic science tests. What was horrifying was the revelation that the ailing brother, along with his other sibling, had ordered for the lady's murder, so that those two brothers could get the lady doctor's property in Mumbai!

Malini feels that Narco analysis is a very scientific procedure and a far more humane approach in dealing with an accused's psychological expressions than the 'third degree treatment' meted out to extract truth. When an accused or the suspect goes into a 'trans state' of his mind after starting the slow intravenous infusion of pentothal sodium, Dr Malini starts questioning the person.

In the last one year, Malini's days have been hectic with the ATS (Anti Terrorism Squad) of Mumbai requesting for Narco-analysis test on Mumbai train blast and Malaegaon blast suspects and also on suspected terrorists arrested from Mysore and Bangalore. In the Mumbai train blasts, of the 22 persons who were subjected to the tests, 21 persons were found guilty.

Depending on the information revealed by them, huge amount of RDX was recovered in several places and the police were able to trace a location from where the terrorists were getting logistical support.

Dr Malini will soon head ‘The Centre for Brain Sciences’, which will shortly become operational within the premises of the lab. A true woman of substance and you don’t need a truth serum for anybody to agree to that!