Come November, the Anti-Corruption Bureau will have all facilities at its disposal to take up scientific and in-depth investigation in cases pertaining to disproportionate assets, corruption and other high-profile cases.
The new ACB headquarters at Banjara Hills, work on which is almost complete, will have a special facility called the ‘Scientific Room’. The new building will be inaugurated in November.
ACB officials said the present ACB headquarters located at MJ Market does not even have an interrogation room and the accused are often grilled in the rooms belonging to the staffers. “The scientific room will be the place where the accused in various cases will be interrogated. We will have state-of-the-art facilities there including video and voice recording facilities which we will be able to produce in a court of law as the accused often allege that the statements made before the agency are the result of coercion. Some other accused try to change the statements but with the new facilities, we will have sold proof at hand,’’ explained ACB officials.
This is the first time that the watchdog agency will have a scientific room for themselves, which officials say, will go a long way in ensuring that the accused do not escape the arm of law.
‘’The present structure is quite old and there are no facilities. The new building has been designed in such a manner that the ACB has all facilities at its disposal at one place,’’ they said.
The officials said that besides video and audio recording, the scientific room will have the equipment and facilities for conducting a polygraph test. ‘’While interrogating the accused, we will observe their behaviour and facial expressions and if we are convinced that they are hiding facts, we can have a polygraph test done,’’ they explained.
The six-storeyed building, spread over two acres allotted by the government and built at a cost of about Rs 15 crore, will have four floors for offices, two for parking and some rooms.