Preeti: Under scrutiny

Sept. 13: Starlet Preeti Jain, arrested on Saturday for conspiring to kill film director Madhur Bhandarkar, was put through polygraph (lie detector) and brain-mapping tests for several hours at the Forensic Science Laboratory here today.

Similar tests were carried out on Naresh Pardeshi, an aide of gangster-turned-MLA Arun Gawli, who allegedly received cash advance from Preeti for the contract killing.

Dr B.M. Mohan, the director of the laboratory, said Pardeshi would be subjected to narco-analysis tests tomorrow.

In this test, a person’s imagination is neutralised by injecting him with sodium pentothal or sodium amytal to make him semi-conscious. In this state, it becomes difficult for him to lie and his answers are restricted to facts. The suspects are not in a position to speak up on their own but can only answer simple questions.

Mohan said the tests on Preeti “will confirm whatever she has told the investigating officers. We will take a week or two to analyse the data and send our report (to Mumbai)”.

A police team from Mumbai has escorted Preeti and Pardeshi to Bangalore. The two were arrested on Saturday and remanded in custody till September 16 after Gawli informed the police about the alleged contract to eliminate Bhandarkar.

Preeti had earlier accused Bhandarkar of raping her after offering her a lead role in his film. She had said he even promised to marry her.

In the remand application filed before the metropolitan magistrate, the police said they needed to conduct narco-analysis and brain-mapping tests on Preeti and Pardeshi after the two gave contradictory and confusing statements during their interrogation.

However, Mohan said the officers had not sought a narco-analysis test on Preeti.

“The polygraph test will establish if she is speaking the truth, while the brain-mapping test would try to get more information on the conspiracy,” he said.