New Delhi: A court here on Tuesday allowed Delhi Police to conduct a narco test on Aaftab Amin Poonawala, Poonawala's counsel said. 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. 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. Since the incident, security outside the FSL, where a series of sessions of polygraph test on Poonawala has taken place, has been beefed up.
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. The investigating agencies use this test after the other evidence do not provide a clear picture of the case.