In a fresh development in the CB-CID investigation into the Nirmala Devi case, the tainted assistant professor affiliated to the Madurai Kamaraj University has been administered a voice test in order to categorically establish whether it was her on the phone line with students.
According to a report in The Hindu, Nirmala Devi was asked to speak over a telephone line and her voice was then recorded at the Forensic Sciences Lab in Chennai. This would then be matched with the viral audio clip of their conversation.
According to a report in the Deccan Chronicle, Nirmala Devi was lodged at the Puzhal prison after the the Madras High Court granted permission for the voice test. The voice test, which began at 10: 20 and concluded at 2 pm, was supervised by Deputy Director(Forensic) Hemalatha and Assistant Director Natarajan, amidst high security.
A day after the scandal came to light, the case was handed over to the CBCID following political uproar in the state over an impartial probe. Nirmala Devi's alleged aides - V Murugan, assistant professor of management studies at MKU, and Karuppasamy, a former research student of fine arts at MKU were arrested and interrogated by the CBCID.
In April this year, the state was rocked by the academic scandal wherein Nirmala Devi, an assistant professor of the Devanga Arts College in Virudhunagar district was heard luring four woman students to be party to an ‘arrangement’, where their academic and financial needs would be taken care of, if they accepted the ‘opportunity.’ In the nearly 19-minute long conversation, she repeatedly states that higher officials are involved.
The parallel investigation conducted by the one man commission appointed by the Tamil Nadu Governor has also submitted its report. Retired IAS officer Santhanam who lead the probe was directed by the Madras High Court to keep the report in a sealed cover.