A Metropolitan Magistrate’s court in Vikhroli on Saturday granted permission to the Nehru Nagar police to subject Salim Sheikh, who was arrested in the Karishma Mane murder case, to narcoanalysis.
The court gave its nod after Sheikh’s lawyer filed a say in court expressing Sheikh’s consent to the test.
Ms. Mane, a 24-year-old resident of Nehru Nagar in Kurla (east), was stabbed in broad daylight while on her way to work near the Suman Nagar flyover on May 24, and succumbed half an hour later at Surana Hospital in Chembur. The police on June 12 arrested Sheikh, a history-sheeter, who has a case of robbery against him.
The Hindu had in its Saturday edition reported how the police had sought the court’s approval for narcoanalysis after failing to get any clinching evidence against Sheikh despite several days of pre-arrest questioning and four days of custodial interrogation. The police had filed its application on Thursday, and Sheikh was given till Saturday to file his consent or denial, as the test can not be conducted without the consent of the accused. “Sheikh’s lawyer filed an application giving his consent on Saturday, after which the court granted us permission for the test. Sheikh, who is currently in judicial custody and lodged in the central jail in Thane, will be produced in court on Monday, where he will be personally asked by the Magistrate if he has any objections to the test, after which the test will be conducted,” said a police officer. The test is likely to be conducted on Wednesday or Thursday at JJ Hospital in Byculla.
