New Delhi: The private lab engaged to verify the authenticity of the voice alleged to have belonged to Manipur chief minister N. Biren Singh in clips submitted to a judicial commission, which brought his role in the ethnic violence in the state under scrutiny has certified in a report submitted to the Supreme Court that there is a 93% match between the clip and Singh’s voice samples and there is a “high probability” that they are the same voice.
The Wire, in a series last year, had reported on clips from that audio tape, highlighting claims made by the person alleged to be Biren on the ethnic violence in the state that has killed over a hundred, injured several, and displaced at least 70,000 people belonging to the Kuki and Meitei communities.
The audio recordings were given to this correspondent by person/s stating that they had recorded them at official premises associated with Singh. They had stated that a copy of it had been submitted to retired Justice Ajai Lamba, chairperson of the Judicial Commission on Manipur Violence set up by the Ministry of Home Affairs to probe the violence that broke out since May 3, 2024.
Soon after, Kuki Organisation For Human Rights Trust (KOHUR) petitioned the apex court, seeking a court-monitored probe into the audio tape.
Hearing the petition this November 8, a three-judge bench led by the then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, asked the petitioner to verify the authenticity of the audio tape and submit its report to the court.
Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing on behalf of the state and Union governments, had, however, objected to the petition on the ground that the petitioner needed to have first approached the high court.
Read the five-part ‘Manipur Tapes’ reports of The Wire: 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
Following the SC order, the petitioner’s counsel Prashant Bhushan on November 14, sought the services of Truth Lab, a credible private lab often engaged by government agencies, to verify the tape for authenticity. Along with the audio tape, Bhushan also submitted a voice sample of the chief minister plucked from a news conference – to match it against.
In a detailed report sent to Bhushan on January 18, and seen by The Wire, Truth Lab certified that the audio tape “was found to be a continuous recording predominately containing the voice of one male person with a few interfering noises apparently caused by spatial movements of recording device, as well as background noises and voices of other speakers.”
Importantly, the report said, “…It has been found that the probability of the male speakers in the Q/M and ’S/M’ being the same person is 93 per cent”.
The petitioner’s counsel, this January 22, filed a supplementary affidavit at the apex court attaching a copy of the Truth Lab certification report.
This February 3 (today), appearing for the Manipur and Union governments, SG Mehta sought three weeks’ time to have the tape verified by the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) as it is a government laboratory. Mehta also reiterated his earlier point – that KOHUR should have approached the high court before coming to the SC.
While arguing in defence of CM Biren, Mehta also called the petitioner “trouble-makers” with “vested interests”, carrying certain “ideological baggage” and having a “separatist mindset”.
Hearing the case, Chief Justice of India Sanjeev Khanna and Justice Sanjay Kumar, thereafter, agreed to grant the government three weeks’ time to submit the CFSL report in a sealed cover. The next date of hearing has been set for March 24.
Speaking to The Wire, the petitioner’s counsel Bhushan said, “The credibility of Truth Lab is much more than that of a government lab. Even government agencies like the CBI, and CFSL itself approach Truth Lab for verification work. The Truth Lab is a highly credible laboratory set up under the chairmanship of former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, M. N. Venkatachaliah. Supreme Court has accepted several verification reports by the Truth Lab earlier.”
Meanwhile, KOHUR chairman H.S. Benjamin Mate has told this correspondent that he has been “hounded” by the Manipur Police for filing the writ petition and has “been in hiding for safety reasons”.
“This witch-hunting has been going on for about a week now, since the Truth Lab report was submitted to the SC. On the pretext of taking my statement on how I got access to the audio tape, the Manipur Police have been hounding me. They also called up my family several times to know my whereabouts. I am worried about my safety,” he said.
After parts of the audio tape were leaked on social media last year, the state chief minister’s office had issued a press release claiming that the recording was “doctored” but did not furnish any proof to bolster this claim. It said that the state police had filed an FIR to investigate the matter.
Mehta, in defence of Biren, reiterated in the SC on February 3 that the investigation was being carried out by the state police. The Manipur Police reports to Singh as he is also the state home minister.
