Accused in activist's murder to take lie test

Mumbai: A Pune court yesterday gave its clearance for a polygraph or lie detector test to be conducted on nine accused, including eight policemen in connection with the murder of Right to Information (RTI) activist Satish Shetty.

Shetty, 38, was killed on January 13, 2010 in Talegaon-Dabhade district by unidentified persons when he was returning from his morning walk. He had exposed several land scams in the district using the RTI Act and had filed complaints at Lonavla police station against two private companies.

In fact, he shot into fame after busting corrupt land deals in and around the country's first expressway from Mumbai to Pune over a decade ago.

The court's clearance for a polygraph test was given following the CBI's appeal to test the accused, including businessman, Virendra Mhaiskar of IRB construction company and the policemen, including inspector Bhausaheb Andhalkar, who investigated the Shetty case. A CBI lawyer said that almost all of them had volunteered to undergo the polygraph test. The CBI hopes the test will help solve the case.

The Anti-Corruption Branch of the CBI, Pune, has announced a reward of Rs 1 million for anyone who gives information regarding the murder.