Graft case: Don’t send voice samples to CFSL, HCS officer tells court

Shilpy Pattar

HARYANA Civil Services officer Shilpi Pattar has filed an application through her counsel requesting the court's direction to the prosecution to ask CBI officials not to send her voice samples and other documents, bearing her signature, to the Central Forensic Research Laboratory and to release her mobile phone, documents and house key. Pattar, facing trial in a graft case registered by CBI, was granted bail on October 21. The court has sent a notice to the prosecution for reply on November 9.

The application has been filed by Pattar's counsel, Terminder Singh, who has mentioned that after Pattar's arrest by the CBI, the sleuths took her signatures on documents, including blank papers, and also directed the applicant to speak and give voice samples without her consent. The application mentioned that Pattar was falsely implicated in the case and after a copy of the chargesheet was supplied to her, she realised that some of her signatures had been misused, including a letter of consent, for voice sample. Therefore, the accused has pleaded that the same may not be used for which proper procedure was not followed.

Another application, filed by Pattar's counsel, stated that the prosecution be asked to release documents, mobile phones, keys of her house as well as her locker. It was pleaded that these documents were no longer required by the prosecution and hence they should be released and given to the accused. Shilpi Pattar, former Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of Chandigarh, her husband Dhiraj and middleman G S Brar, were held by the CBI following a raid on her house on the night of August 5.

The arrest was made following a property dispute between the complainant and his brother and the matter was listed for hearing in the court of the SDM (East), Chandigarh. An amount of Rs 2 lakh was also seized from the residence of the accused in different sachets in figures of Rs 10,000, Rs 25,000, Rs 50,000, etc by CBI sleuths.