Pratibha Patil

Mumbai, Oct. 8: The CBI wants to run a lie detector on “certain persons” in a murder case where the victim’s wife has implicated President Pratibha Patil’s brother.

The agency has told the Jalgaon sessions court it has unearthed fresh evidence against unnamed people who were never arrested, and sought permission to carry out the narco-analysis tests.

Jalgaon Congress president Vishram Patil was murdered in September 2005, days after defeating Pratibha’s brother G.N. Patil in the district party elections.

The disclosure about the CBI request for a lie test was made before Bombay High Court today. The high court is hearing a petition from Vishram’s wife Rajni saying G.N. Patil and former Congress MP Ulhas Patil should be investigated for the murder.

Rajni’s lawyer Mahesh Jethmalani produced a September 29 plea filed by the CBI that says: “Certain new facts have cropped up leading the CBI towards complicity of certain persons apart from Leeladhar Narkhede and Damodar Lokhande.”

Narkhede and Lokhande were among the four persons arrested in the case, but were acquitted by the high court.

earlier this year.

The CBI application is silent on who these “certain persons” are. Solicitor-general Goolam Vahanvati appeared for the agency in the high court and submitted sealed envelopes containing matter relating to the investigation.

Vahanvati said the CBI had recorded the statement of prime accused Raju Mali’s wife, too. Mali died in jail in April this year. The judges asked Vahanvati to file a progress report on the investigations by October 30.