Court okays polygraph test on Raja Bhaiya

A special court of the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Wednesday allowed the investigative agency to conduct a polygraph test on former Uttar Pradesh minister Raghuraj Pratap Singh aka Raja Bhaiya.

The court was hearing a CBI plea that it needed to get a lie detector test done on the independent legislator from Kunda in connection with its investigations into the murder of Kunda circle police officer Zia-ul-Haq, who was shot dead March 2.

The court directed the CBI to get the test done in New Delhi within the next two days. Raja Bhaiya last week and again on Tuesday agreed to undergo the test.

After hearing the pleas of the CBI and counsel of Raja Bhaiya, the special court here reserved its ruling Tuesday and pronounced it Wednesday. The CBI had earlier asked for the polygraph test on June 6, but since the former minister was on a pilgrimage to Uttarakhand, it was delayed.

The CBI had earlier subjected the former food and civil supplies minister to intense interrogation May 15 and 16. While in the first CBI charge sheet Raja Bhaiya’s name did not figure, CBI sources say he was still not “declared clean in the case”.