CBI conducts lie-detector test on truck driver, cleaner, owner
New Delhi: The special CBI probe team that is investigating the accident of the Unnao rape victim has recently conducted lie-detector tests on the driver, cleaner and owner of the truck that caused the suspicious mishap.
The CBI had earlier in the investigation taken custody of the driver, Ashish Pal and his cleaner and questioned them in connection with the accident.
The central probe agency had swiftly taken over the investigation in the case after the authorities in Uttar Pradesh hurriedly registered a murder case in the matter the day after the accident and immediately consented to the CBI taking it over. The CBI swung into action, assigning over 20 additional officers to the case and a six-member team of experts from the probe agency's Central Forensic Science Laboratory here.
Sources here had told the Millennium Post that the team had visited the accident spot multiple times and collected quite a bit of forensic evidence pertaining to the case.
Agency sleuths had also visited the Sitapur jail, where the rape-accused MLA Kuldeep Singh Sengar was lodged at the time, to speak to jail officials and examine visitor logs at the jail. Investigators were looking at people who had visited Sengar in jail in the days before the accident.
The Unnao rape case came into the limelight again after the victim, who was travelling with her two aunts and lawyer was hit by a truck in a head collision that left her and the lawyer in critical condition, killing her two aunts.
The accident turned suspicious after it came to light that the truck's number plates were blackened. It also came to light that about 10 days before the accident, the rape victim's family had written to the Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi, asking to move the cases to Delhi because of continuous threats and intimidation from Sengar's men.
Taking cognizance of the accident immediately, a Supreme Court bench headed by CJI Gogoi transferred four of the Unnao cases to Delhi and directed the CBI to complete its accident probe and file a chargesheet by August 14.
The Delhi court meanwhile, started hearing the cases earlier this week and recently framed charges of rape, kidnapping and rape of a minor under POCSO Act against Sengar, Shashi Singh.
