State CID wants to map city police brains

The agency has sought government permission to conduct forensic tests on some police officers

MUMBAI: The Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the state police has sought government sanction to conduct brain electrical oscillation signature profiling and other forensic tests on some police officers, whose role in the alleged frame-up of developer RR Chaturvedi is being investigated.

Confirming this, state CID chief SPS Yadav told DNA: “We have sought permission to conduct brain-mapping and similar tests on a few officers to glean the truth behind the conspiracy to frame Chaturvedi.” He, however, declined to reveal the names of the officers. Officials at the state home department were also tightlipped on the CID application.

Before Yadav took over as state CID chief, the agency had obtained sanction from a court of law to conduct narco-analysis tests upon Chaturvedi. Earlier, the Juhu police, who are now accused of framing Chaturvedi, had obtained similar sanction from the Andheri court but were restrained by the Bombay High Court.

Asked about this, Yadav said: “We are not pursuing the narco-analysis of Chaturvedi anymore, as that case proved false during our investigation.”

In February 2007, the Juhu police had arrested four persons on a charge of planning to kill another developer, Rashmikant Shah, allegedly at Chaturvedi’s instance. But later, the CID concluded that the police had framed Chaturvedi. Two officers from the Juhu police station have also reportedly confessed to the state CID their role in framing Chaturvedi at the instance of senior officers.

Chaturvedi told DNA: “The CID has to be clear who is the victim in the case and who the accused persons are before conducting any such tests. Initially, when the CID took over the investigation from the Juhu police, it had to take the case further in the trial court on the basis of investigations completed by the local police. But they realised the truth after sustained investigation and hence the case against me was falsified.”

Shah, however, said: “I have always been asking that narco-analysis be conducted on Chaturvedi and I am willing to undergo the same. The issue has been complicated deliberately. Why did Chaturvedi feel the need to obtain a stay against the narco-analysis? An honest probe is only possible now if a central investigative agency is asked to take over the case.”

Shah said the CID called him a month ago to record his statement. “I told them that in the Chaturvedi arrest case I was not the complainant but the victim,” he said. “I provided the CID with details of the instances when I was threatened by underworld elements at Chaturvedi’s instance, who asked me to exit the Kalachowkie slum redevelopment project or face the consequences.”

a_renni@dnaindia.net