DNA test only if Bitti agrees

Though court has granted permission for conducting a DNA test to prove the identity of rape case convict Bitti Mohanty, who was arrested here on March 8 on charges of impersonation, forgery and cheating, investigating officers can subject the accused to undergo the examination only with his consent and that of his parent.

The Additional District and Sessions Court here on May 17 allowed the prosecutions plea for conducting the DNA test on Mohanty, who had been working in a public sector bank here under the fake name of Raghav Rajan.

Police officers investigating the case here said they had initiated the procedure for securing the order of the Judicial First Class Magistrate at Payyannur to summon Bitti and his parent for getting their consent for the DNA test.

An officer involved in the probe said the DNA test could not be conducted if they refused to undergo it. The refusal would, however, only favour the prosecution argument, he said, adding no one falsely charged with impersonation would refuse a test that would prove his real identity.

The police sought the DNA test as the arrested person continues to claim that he is Raghav Rajan, and not Bitti Mohanty, though the investigating team had collected evidence from Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Jaipur and Puttaparthi.

Bitti allegedly assumed the fake name after he jumped parole in 2006 while undergoing a 7-year sentence in Rajasthan in the case of rape of a German national.

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DNA test only if Bitti agrees