The First Class Judicial Magistrate Court at Sulthan Bathery on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president K. Surendran requesting to conduct his voice test in a Central forensic laboratory instead of the State forensic laboratory in Thiruvananthapuram.
The case relates to the allegation that Mr. Surendran had bribed Janadhipathya Rashtriya Party (JRP) leader C.K. Janu to field her as the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) candidate in the last Assembly elections.
Mr. Surendran said in his petition that Central forensic laboratories had more authenticity than the State laboratory and there were chances of fabrication if the test was conducted here.
The court directed the State Government to submit a report to clarify its stance in connection with the petition. Assistant public prosecutor Aneesh Joseph opposed the application stating that the State laboratory had adequate facilities to conduct the test and the accused had no right to dictate the course of the investigation.
The police had registered a case against Mr. Surendran in connection with the charge that he had paid Ms. Janu ₹50 lakh to ensure her support to the NDA in the election. The Crime Branch had collected his voice sample to verify the authenticity of the audio clip released by JRP treasurer Praseeta Azhikode in the case.
Earlier, she had released the voices of both Mr. Surendran and herself, which she claimed were records of conversations she had with Mr. Surendran, on handing over the money to Ms. Janu.
