A court at Jhanjharpur in BiharтАЩs Madhubani district has given a go-ahead for narco and polygraph tests to be conducted on two police officers accused of assaulting a judge at the same court in November 2021, a case that had drawn the attention of the Supreme Court.
The court of additional chief judicial magistrate at Jhanjharpur on Thursday approved the lie detector tests on police sub-inspectors Gopal Krishna and Abhimanyu Sharma after they gave their consent to undergo the procedure.
The case pertains to alleged assault on the then additional district judge (ADJ) Avinash Kumar inside his chamber at Jhanjharpur subdivisional court on November 18, 2021. Krishna was then the station house officer (SHO) of Ghoghardiha police station while Sharma was his subordinate.
Krishna was removed from his post after the judge registered an FIR (first information report) against him for assault.
The CID (crime investigation department) of the Bihar Police, which is probing the case on Patna High CourtтАЩs orders, had sought consent of the two accused police officers and two witnesses produced by the complainant judge to conduct lie detector tests on them. The two witnesses, Dipak Raj and Awakash Mishra, have refused to undergo the procedure.
Counsel for the two police officers, Abhishek Ranjan, told reporters that his clients gave their consent to the tests before the court during the hearing on Thursday.
Investigators said the tests were necessary since both the witnesses were changing their statements and not cooperating in the probe.
Officials familiar with the matter said the narco test of police officers will be conduct in Gujarat or New Delhi on June 15.
Earlier, in November 2021, the Patna High Court had asked the CID to probe the case.
On August 4, 2022, the HC had asked the Bihar Police to immediately withdraw an FIR that was lodged against Avinash Kumar, the then additional district and sessions judge (ADJ) of Jhanjharpur.
Sub-inspector Gopal Krishna filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, challenging Patna High CourtтАЩs order that accepted the closure report in his complaint against the ADJ in which he had alleged that he was assaulted in the judgeтАЩs chamber.
On December 5, 2022, the Supreme Court directed the chief justice of Patna High Court to investigate the police officerтАЩs complaint.
