 "India sees business partners take lie detector tests to verify trust")
Mahinder P (name changed), an IIM Bangalore student had an idea to build a Tinder like app for jobs. But he wanted help to convert his idea into a product and began the hunt for the right co-founder. Mahinder met many people who liked his idea and wanted to partner him, but he was hesitant to take them on.
"I went for various startup events, hoping to find someone passionate to build the product with me. I would pay and at every event, interact with anyone who I found interesting but I was never convinced. The problem was not with them, it was with my state of mind, how do I know if the person is genuine and will not dupe me?," said Mahinder.
Initially, he thought a legal document would suffice to remove his misgivings. That is when Mahinder met Arnav George (name changed), a college dropout, an ethical hacker and a tech expert. George, 23, had already been duped by two partners due to his naivety in business models and did not want to repeat the third time.
Now, both Mahinder and George are co-founders of a product start-up much different from what they initially started with. Their basis of trust today is a report based on a 15-minute session at a forensic lab.
The two partners decided to undergo a lie detection or what they call trust establishment test at a private forensic lab in Bengaluru. They are not the only ones doing so, private labs such as Truth Labs, Clue4Evidence and JK Consultancy are increasingly seeing a number of people coming in with requests to undergo a polygraph test.
Polygraph or lie detector tests were made famous in India when investigators conducted them during the fake stamp paper case on Abdul Karim Telgi. The modern labs do not use the sodium pentothal injection that was given to Telgi but use voice modulation and or study heart beats to validate a person is trustworthy.
These private labs say nearly tenth of their clients are business partners looking to start a venture together, similarly for background verification of employees and majority of those are looking for potential life partners.
"Until a few months back we use to have just 3 to 4 clients in two months. However, now we have about 10 to 12 request each month. Out of which we do around 7 to 8 polygraph tests," said Phaninder BN, who runs a private lab called Clue4Evidence.
"Increasingly, trust between people seem to be reducing. We feel this is mainly because today with the digital world playing an important part in people's lives there is no emotional or long-term connections between them, " added Phaninder, who conducts a polygraph test and gives results, based on voice modulations and body language of the candidate undergoing a test.
Truth Labs, a Hyderabad based lab says they are increasingly having cases of business partners who want to re-establish something already agreed between them.
"We only take criminal investigations for which police seeks our help and business partners who want the test to be conducted. Most cases are of partners who might have already said something to each other and later claim they never said so. Since documentations of aspects of business is increasingly reducing this becomes critical nowadays," says Surya Bharathi, who works in the Bengaluru unit of Truth Labs.
Bharathi says they at least 7 to 8 clients requesting such services each month and the cost varies from client to client.
JK Consultancy goes a step further offering such services on the go or at a client's place. The company says when a partner is uncomfortable coming to a forensic expert , we get request of getting the test done in a hotel, residence or offices.
"It is a fairly new concept in the country and hence people are not completely comfortable with it. Most people who fill out a mandatory form stating the reason for the test to be conducted say they want to know the immediate intent of the person," said Gaurav Kaushik, partner and forensic expert at JK Consultancy. "While among business partners, we mainly notice the younger generation wanting to go in for the test."
The firm has seen the number of tests go up from 2 to 3 a month to 15 to 20 cases now.
However, the results of such tests are not considered as a valid proof in Court or to fight a legal battle. " Results of a lie detector test of any kind are not approved or even considered as an evidence in court. The only thing that one can do is use the results to lead them to concrete evidence and nothing more. Tests done privately between couples and partners will remain invalid, however, if they wish to investigate the matter further, they can hand over the results to the investigating agency. Other than that these tests are nothing but a personal trust building exercise, " said Nagendra Naik, a defence lawyer in cases related to CBI investigations.
