New Delhi: The CBI, which is investigating the murder of Siwan-based Journalist Rajdeo Ranjan, will soon request the competent court for permission to conduct lie-detection test on Mohammad Kaif, a close associate of RJD leader Mohammad Shahabuddin. The CBI suspects that Kaif, on Shahabuddin’s instructions, played a crucial role in hatching the conspiracy to eliminate Ranjan.
“The investigation has revealed that Shahabuddin and his associate Kaif played a crucial role in hatching the conspiracy to eliminate the journalist. The suspicion over Shahabuddin’s involvement had deepened after names of two of his henchmen Kaif and Mohammad Javed surfaced,” sources said. Now, the agency wants to conduct a lie-detection test on Kaif, they added.
Shahabuddin was in jail when the journalist was gunned down in Siwan while he was returning from office on May 13, 2016. Shahabuddin, facing more than 39 criminal cases, including those of kidnapping and murder, was transferred to the Tihar jail on February 18.
The CBI recently moved a plea before a local court in Muzaffarpur to conduct ‘narco-analysis’ test on Shahabuddin in connection with the case. The agency is expected to take him to CFSL laboratory in Gujarat for the test.
It is mandatory to take consent of the accused before conducting narco test. “If he refuses for the narco test in the court, it will go against him in the case,” sources said.
