Cop Who Shot Odisha Minister Naba Das to Undergo Narco & Polygraph Tests in Gujarat

GG News Bureau

Bhubaneswar, 9th Feb. As part of the investigation, the former policeman who allegedly shot dead Odisha Health Minister Naba Kishore Das last month will be subjected to narco-analysis and polygraph tests.

A court in Odisha’s Jharsuguda district on Wednesday extended the accused, Gopal Das,’ police remand until February 13.

The Judicial Magistrate First Class court at Jharsuguda has allowed the Crime Branch (CB) probing the case to conduct the narco-analysis and polygraph tests on the dismissed policeman after the accused agreed to the proposal, Gopal Das’s lawyer Harishankar Agarwal told reporters.

A narco-analysis test involves the intravenous administration of a drug that causes the subject to enter a stage of anaesthesia during which the person becomes less inhibited and is more likely to reveal information that would not normally be revealed in the conscious state.

A polygraph test aims to determine whether or not the subject is lying by tracking breathing rate, blood pressure, perspiration, and heart rate while the subject is asked various questions.

According to an official, the CB has already left for Kolkata, from where they will fly to Gandhinagar.

Previously, Gopal Das had several other tests conducted by a team from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in New Delhi.

One of the tests was conducted to assess his mental state because the accused person’s wife claimed that her husband had bipolar disorder, which causes extreme mood swings ranging from depressive lows to manic highs.

Meanwhile, Odisha Director General of Police S K Bansal, along with retired high court judge Justice J P Das, who is supervising the investigation, visited Gandhi Chowk in Brajrajnagar for the first time.

Bansal said, “It will take some more time for completion of the investigation. The Crime Branch has been investigating the case under the supervision of Justice JP Das.”

The Crime Branch had on Tuesday recreated the crime scene with the accused at the spot.

Justice Das said, “The CB investigation is on track. We are waiting for the psychological test reports.”

Gopal Das had fired two rounds from his service revolver at the minister on January 29, with one bullet piercing his chest. The same day, he died in a hospital in Bhubaneswar.