Punjab Police officer undergoes lie detector test

Senior Punjab Police officer Salwinder Singh, who was abducted by terrorists and later released, on Tuesday underwent a lie detector test in connection with the Pathankot terror case in which his statements are still not trusted by investigators.

The polygraph test came after five days of questioning by the NIA. On Monday, a Delhi court had given the NIA the permission to carry out the test.

The examination came after the NIA felt there were “inconsistencies” in his statements before the Punjab Police and the NIA with regard to the version of his abduction by terrorists and subsequent release.

Sources said the lie detector test has not concluded on Tuesday and that it would continue on Wednesday. A team of experts from the Central Forensic and Scientific Laboratory is conducting the test.

Investigators hope that the test would help them ascertain the sequence of events that took place after he was kidnapped on the intervening night of December 31 and January 1 by terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammed.

Asked whether they consider him a suspect or a witness, a senior official said they are treating him as a suspect as of now and the onus is on him to prove otherwise.

Investigators have doubts over Singh’s version that he was abducted by terrorists who carried out the Pathankot air base attack and later released.

They suspect Singh is part of a smugglers’ network and inadvertently helped terrorists enter India without knowing their real intentions. Singh has also not been able to provide convincing reasons for his visit to a shrine near the Indo-Pak border in Punjab, his abduction by terrorists and reason for maintaining four mobile numbers.