New Delhi, April 16

THE sacked chairman of Central Board of Excise and Customs BP Verma, his son Siddharth and two others were on Monday sent to 14-day judicial custody by a Delhi court in a case of criminal conspiracy and bribery.
Special Judge RL Chugh remanded accused Verma, his son Siddharth, alleged conduit Bhawana Pandey and Rajiv Sharma, manager of firms owned by Siddarth, to judicial custody till April 30 after they were produced before him this afternoon.

Meanwhile, CBI sought permission from the court to put Verma to polygraph test “to ascertain the truth and to come to right conclusions.”

“The accused remained evasive during interrogation on all the important questions put to him. He has not come out with truth though there is strong evidence regarding many points relevant to the case...” CBI said in its 4-page application.

“The polygraph test involves use of bulky instruments which are available at CFSL and it is not feasible to shift the equipment to the jail to carry out the test,” CBI said. The court asked Verma’s counsel IU Khan to file his reply to the CBI application and put up the matter for hearing on Monday.

CBI opposed the bail plea of Rajiv Sharma saying it had evidence to prove that he collected illegal gratification from co-accused K Vijay Pratap on behalf of Verma as directed by Siddharth. The court would hear arguments from both sides on April 19.

Two other accused C Sarvan Kumar and K Vijay Pratap, who were arrested in Chennai and brought here by CBI, are already in judicial custody till April 23.