Plea in Odisha court: DS brothers refuse to undergo voice test

Odisha Sun Times Bureau
Cuttack, Feb 20:

The notorious criminal siblings—Sushant Dhalsamanta and Sushil Dhalsamanta—today refused to undergo voice sample test who were produced before a local court in Odisha’ Cuttack seeking permission to conduct the test.

Amid tight security, the Dhalsamanta siblings were produced before Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) court here today.

The duo, present in Commissionerate Police remand, refused to undergo voice sample test.

“The court wanted to know whether my clients are willing to give approval for their voice sample test. They did not agree to it saying that they would use it against them as evidence,” Dhalsamanta brothers’ counsel Sourachandra Mohapatra said.

The Twin City Commissionerate Police had moved the SDJM court on Friday seeking voice sample test to be conducted on the DS brothers. Following this, the court directed the police to produce the gangster brothers before it today to solicit their consent.

The investigators sought a voice sample test of the siblings to nail them on extortion charges as it claimed earlier to have seized an audio CD from their house during raids.

Notably, Supreme Court guideline makes it mandatory to garner consent of any accused prior to conducting voice sample test.

Elaborate security arrangements were put in place in the court premises to maintain law and order and prevent any untoward incident.

It may be recalled that the Twin City Commissionerate Police had produced Sushil and Sushant Dhalsamanta before Sub Divisional Judicial Magistrate (SDJM) at his residence last Saturday (February 13) after the expiry of second phase remand.

After being produced before the magistrate, Dhalsamanta brothers refused to undergo polygraph test. The brothers told the magistrate that they were indisposed to undergo the lie-detector test.