Shraddha murder: Nod for narco test on Aaftab Amin Poonawala

New Delhi, November 29

A court here today allowed the Delhi Police to conduct a narco test on Aaftab Amin Poonawala, an accused in Shraddha Walkar murder case.

Abinash Kumar, Poonawala’s counsel, said that the police had filed an application for taking Poonawala to Forensic Science Lab, Rohini, on December 1 and December 5, which was allowed by the court. The police had earlier said that the narco analysis would be conducted at Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital in Rohini by a team of experts from the FSL.

On Monday, Poonawala had come under an attack by some weapon-wielding men at the FSL when he was in a police van. A video of the attack that surfaced on social media showed a policeman whipping out his pistol to warn the attackers to back off.

Narco analysis, also known as truth serum, involves intravenous administration of a drug (such as sodium pentothal, scopolamine, and sodium amytal) that causes the person undergoing it to enter into various stages of anaesthesia. In the hypnotic stage, the person becomes less inhibited and is more likely to divulge information, which would usually not be revealed in the conscious state.