Sheena Bora murder case: Peter Mukerjea subjected to lie-detector test

New Delhi: The CBI on Saturday subjected former media honcho Peter Mukerjea to a lie detector test to “verify” his statements on various aspects of the three-year old murder of his step daughter Sheena Bora.

The polygraph test by the CBI came days after it arrested Mukerjea after it found that his statements were evasive and raised suspicion of the level of his involvement in the case. CBI sources claimed that the test became necessary as Mukerjea purportedly changed his version a number of times on key aspects of the murder mystery and his answers were not convincing.

Mukerjea, 60, was taken to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory here on Saturday morning for questioning.

They said only the scientist and Mukerjea were present in the room when the test was conducted. The list of questions on which Mukerjea was tested were handed over to the CFSL expert who carried out the examination.

The sources claimed that some answers indicated deception, but no inference can be drawn as of now because the report is yet to be submitted to the agency. Sources said it will only be determined whether Mukerjea was deceptive or not after the agency receives a complete report from the CFSL. It is learnt from sources that Mukerjea was asked questions about the crime, his conversations with his wife Indrani Mukerjea and his own statements were put to him during the test.

The lie detection technique is based on the principle of changes occurring in the body of the subject when questions related to any crime are put forth him. “A change in a person’s consciously-held feelings produces a psychological defence reaction in the form of physiological changes in his BP, pulse rate, respiration and electrodermal response,” the CBI said.

Agency officials said that the fear of detection and entrapment induces a person to conceal facts and this produces uncontrollable physiological reactions, which are precisely measured by the instrument called the polygraph.

The agency has got the nod from a special court here to subject Mukerjea to the lie-detector test. The CBI will have to produce Mukerjea on Monday before a special court in Mumbai which has given it his custody.

Sources, however, clarified that at this stage it is difficult to nail any one possible motive behind Sheena’s murder and the agency is working on a number of different angles which might have triggered the crime.