Bengaluru, May 5: Abdul Kareem Telgi, kingpin of the multi-crore fake stamp paper racket, “faked” his narco-analysis tests, was conscious when these were done and aware of what answers he was giving investigating officers, claimed former Karnataka DGP R. Srikumar, who headed the SIT on the racket before the case was handed over to the CBI.

Mr Srikumar’s revelation, hours after the Supreme Court ruling, raises doubts about narco tests as investigative tools and also whether the threshold of resistance to sodium pentathol, the barbiturate injected into the suspect to make him speak freely, might vary from person to person.

Bala Chauhan