New Delhi: Forensic examination of a
controversial CD purportedly containing conversation of Team
Anna member Shanti Bhushan, SP chief Mulayam Singh and Rajya
Sabha MP Amar Singh by a central laboratory shows that it was
"doctored", contradicting findings of two other such tests.
Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL, Chandigarh has
said that the recording in CD is "not original" and "post
production edited version".
The CD was received by a leading daily at its office on
April 13 by some unknown sender.
After the CD came into circulation, Shanti Bhushan had
filed a complaint with Delhi Police on April 14, alleging that
it was fabricated and denied having any conversation with
Mulayam and Singh.
Delhi Police got the CD examined at CFSL, Delhi and
CFSL, Chandigarh besides CERT-In, a department under the
ministry of communications and information technology which
gave divergent opinions after analyzing the CD.
The CFSL, Delhi report was received by Delhi Police on
April 20 in which it said "the recorded conversation in the CD
could not have been tampered with".
On April 21, the case was transferred to the special cell
and the CD, received in a sealed cover from CFSL, New Delhi,
was sent to CFSL, Chandigarh for second opinion.
With two different versions on the analysis of the CD,
the matter was sent to CERT-In, which in its report on May 28,
said the "audio file containing the conversation was
continuous with no sign of abrupt changes or editing marks."
After getting these reports and questioning of people
involved the case, Delhi Police sought permission of the court
to close the case filed on the complaint by Bhushan saying
there was no substantive evidence to prove the offence of
forgery as alleged by him.
The CFSL, Chandigarh report now made public under the RTI
Act shows that the CD sent to the Laboratory by the Delhi
Police carried only one audio file of one minute and 55
seconds which was created on April 15, 2011 while the CD was
created on April 17.
The report which was contrary to reports of CFSL, Delhi
and CERT-IN says audio recordings in the CD contain "changes
in signal levels", "abrupt starts of conversation as well as
contextual variations at some places."
"Same (sic) different words were found inserted at
numerous places in the recording present in the CD marked C1
by electronic editing (non-linear editing) to show contextual
continuity in the conversation," the CFSL report said.
In the examination "obscuration of signal and editing at
co-articulation level" was found at some places in the
recording which indicated" signs of proficient editing.
"Unusual voice and multi-speaker talk was found in the
background of the recorded conversation," the report which was
provided to an RTI activist after directions of the Central
Information Commission said.
"On the basis of above observations, I came to conclusion
that recording present in the compact disc (CD) is not
original and is a post-production edited version," Deputy
Director at CFSL Chandigarh, S K Jain who examined the CD said
in his report to Special Cell of Delhi Police.
When asked about the development, son of Shanti Bhushan,
Prashant said,"The Delhi Police did not even forward the other
CD, the Mulayam Singh Amar Singh CD, to the Chandigarh CFSL
Lab which would have even more graphically showed that all of
Mulayam Singh`s voice has been copied and pasted from the
tapes filed before Supreme Court in the CD sent for
examination."
He was referring to the tapes he filed in the Supreme
Court in 2006 to demand that Amar Singh`s intercepted phone
conversations be made public.
"Moreover, the dishonesty of the Delhi Police is evident
from the fact that they withheld the Mulayam Singh Amar Singh
CD from all the labs, procured a dishonest report from the
CFSL, Delhi and made it public and refused to disclose the
report Chandigarh CFS," Bhushan alleged.
PTI
