Pakistani terrorist Mohammed Naved Yakub, who was captured by villagers after the Udhampur terror attack earlier this month that had left two Border Security Force personnel dead, will undergo a polygraph test on Tuesday, a Delhi court said on Monday.
Allowing the plea filed by National Investigation Agency, the court directed that Lashkar-e-Tayiba militant Naved be taken to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory at the CGO complex on Tuesday at 11 am for the test.
During an in-camera proceeding, District Judge Amar Nath said considering the “seriousness and gravity of the offence”, polygraph test of accused Naved was required to be conducted.
“Keeping in view the seriousness and gravity of the offence, I am of the considered opinion that the polygraph test of accused Mohammed Naved is required to be conducted in the facts and circumstances of the instant case as fully explained in the application of NIA.
“Accordingly, I allow the present application permitting the NIA to take the accused to Central Forensic Science Laboratory, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi on August 18 at 11 am for conducting the polygraph test,” the judge said while disposing of the plea.
The court noted the NIA’s submissions that Naved, who was brought to the court in a muffled face amid tight security cover, has given consent for the lie-detector test by writing in Urdu language on a plain paper which was annexed with the application.
Seeking permission to conduct polygraph test of Naved, a resident of Faisalabad in Pakistan, the NIA said “it was very much essential to be conducted to expose the larger conspiracy behind the instant terrorist attack”.
It said that the test was required for further probe.
The agency said keeping in view the security arrangements, Naved has been shifted to NIA headquarters for further interrogation under police custody.
It said that during the interrogation, “inconsistency” was found in Naved’s statements on various occasions which hampered the lead in the investigation of the case.
Naved, a LeT militant, was arrested after he was caught by the villagers in Udhampur on August 5 when he tried to take them hostage. He was sent to police custody for 14 days on August 11 by a Jammu court.
According to the NIA, on August 5, a BSF convoy was ambushed by terrorists at Jammu-Srinagar National Highway in Udhampur district in which two BSF jawans were killed and 14 other personnel injured in the incident.
In retaliation, one terrorist Mohammed Noman was killed while Naved was caught alive, it said.
A case was registered at Chenani Police Station in Jammu and Kashmir under various provisions of the Ranbir Penal Code, including criminal conspiracy, waging war against the nation, murder and attempt to murder, and various sections of the Arms Act and the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act.
Following the order of the home ministry, on August 6 the case was transferred to the NIA which lodged an FIR.
According to the agency, a truck driver, who ferried Naved along with his accomplice Noman alias Momin to Udhampur, and a businessman who was alleged to have paid Rs five lakh to Naved and his handler, have been missing and a manhunt has been launched to nab them.
After undergoing two modules of training with LeT, Naved is perceived to have become a hardened militant who is trying to confuse his interrogators, a tactic apparently aimed at buying time for his other accomplices in the terror network to slip away, the sources said.
