Court allows CBI to take voice sample of suspended SHO Jaswinder Kaur

A call made by co-accused Bhagwan Singh to the SHO to intimate about acceptance of bribe money from the complainant was an “an important evidence” in the case, says CBI

Stating that suspended SHO Jaswinder Kaur, an accused in Rs 5 lakh graft case, was ‘not co-operating in the investigation’, the Central Bureau Investigation (CBI) moved an application seeking permission to take her voice sample, which was allowed by the special CBI court on Sunday.

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On June 29, the CBI had registered an FIR against Kaur, former SHO of Manimajra police post, and middleman Bhagwan Singh on the complaint of Manimajra resident Gurdeep Singh. It was alleged that Bhagwan Singh had asked for Rs 5 lakh bribe from Gurdeep, on behalf of Kaur, for not lodging an FIR.

Kaur had surrendered herself in the CBI court on July 25, which sent her to four-day police custody at CBI.

Inspector SS Rathore mentioned in the application that Bhagwan Singh had called accused Jaswinder Kaur to intimate about acceptance of bribe money from the complainant. That call was recorded and was “an important evidence” in the case, the inspector said.

Public prosecutor for CBI, KP Singh, stated that further investigation “very much depends upon the specimen voice sample of accused Jaswinder Kaur”. Kaur was asked but she refused to give consent without consulting her advocate Terminder Singh, who said that she will only give a sample if the court passed an order.

The court directed Kaur to give her voice sample in the presence of an independent witness. Jaswinder Kaur gave in writing that “she has no objection to giving specimen voice samples to the CBI. However, I deny the transcript.” Following this, Sushil Kumar Garg, special CBI judge, allowed the application.