File photo of Abdul Karim Tunda
A Delhi court today dismissed a police plea for permission to conduct brain mapping test of arrested Lashkar bomb maker Abdul Karim Tunda after he refused to give his consent for it citing his old age and health problems.
"I am a person of about 72 year of age and I am suffering from various ailments. Recently one pacemaker has also been inserted in me and I am also suffering from high blood pressure. In these circumstances and my medical condition, I do not want that brain mapping test be conducted upon me," Tunda told the court through his counsel.
The Special Cell of Delhi Police had yesterday moved an application for court's permission to conduct the test in a bid to unearth the terrorist network of Tunda's associates in India and Pakistan.
After his interrogation last month, the police had said that Tunda's psychological profiling suggested that he is "manipulative and often misleading." The police also said that forensic experts had carried out detailed screening-cum-interview sessions of Tunda and have opined that he is "exploiting" his old age and related illnesses to his advantage by not providing correct answers.
The doctors had reportedly said that Tunda appeared to be an expert in manipulation and changed his responses after observing and understanding the interviewer and interrogator, and that he has often tried to mislead by citing illustrations.
After a four-hour-long exercise to analyse Tunda's responses, the doctors observed that he spoke fluently as long as he was not asked to get his version recorded on audio or video format. The doctors said this seemed to be a symptom of rota memory usage, which suggests that he had already decided on what to reveal.
Tunda was arrested on August 16 and has reportedly made startling revelations about his association with the Lashkar and in particular, some of India's most wanted men like underworld don Dawood Ibrahim, 26/11 mastermind Hafiz Saeed and Lashkar top man Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi.
Tunda faces charges in 40 cases of bomb blasts in the 90s. He is now in police custody till September 28.