Controversy over the Bhushan tapes took a fresh turn on Thursday with the government forensic laboratory claiming that the CD was not doctored and it was a “continuous recording”. The Central Forensic Sciences Laboratory report claimed that the “recorded conversation is in continuity... no abrupt changes in speech signal detected.”
Earlier, forensic tests carried out by the Bhushans through two private laboratories — one in Hyderabad and the other in the United States — had determined that the tape’s contents had been spliced.
Questions had also been raised by detractors of Mr Shanti Bhushan, co-chairperson of the joint drafting committee on the Lokpal Bill, over his alleged reference to an amount of `4 crores in the recorded conversation. “That the voice was his... has even been admitted by Shanti Bhushan. In what context was he talking about that amount? This particular remark is lethal and dangerous,” said former Samajwadi leader Amar Singh.
The Uttar Pradesh administration, which had issued a notice to Mr Shanti Bhushan and his three children for allegedly evading stamp duty to the tune of `1.3 crore on purchase of property in a prime locality in the state, has, meanwhile, sent a reminder to the family on the issue.
The CD case has now been transferred to the special cell of the Delhi police for further investigation, and it is learnt that the Bhushans might be called in for questioning. The CD and its transcripts were earlier shown to Mr Shanti Bhushan. The police said “it was sealed before him, and (his) signature taken.” The police is also looking out for the original CD in order to compare it with the copies.
Anti-corruption crusader Anna Hazare said on Thursday that the “controversy has nothing to do with me”.
Reacting to the CFSL report, Mr Shanti Bhushan’s lawyer son and fellow committee member Prashant Bhsuhan shot off emails saying: “Nobody yet appears to have seen the report.” Targeting the government, Mr Prashant Bhushan said: “If the CFSL has indeed given such a report, it would be obvious that the government is involved in this smear campaign. All of Mulayam Singh’s voice in this CD has been lifted from Amar Singh’s conversation with Mulayam Singh Yadav, which had been filed by me in the Supreme Court in 2006.”
However, following the CFSL’s findings, the Bhushan tape controversy has taken a murkier turn. The story, first published in this newspaper (April 16 — “Bhushan-SP chief tapes out”) had stated that a CD was in circulation containing conversations allegedly between joint committee co-chairperson Shanti Bhushan and SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav. In the alleged conversation, Mr Shanti Bhushan purportedly tells the SP chief that his son, Mr Prashant Bhushan, could help in ‘fixing up’ a case for him. An amount of `4 crores was allegedly discussed. The then SP general secretary, Mr Amar Singh, was the alleged mediator between Mr Shanti Bhushan and Mr Yadav.
The CFSL report might just make things more difficult for the Bhushans as there is every possibility of its forensic analysis being given more weightage in the courts. The Bhushans had already filed a contempt case over the circulation of the CD, which they claimed had been “doctored an spliced”.
The CFSL report also said “there was no change in the background voice pattern”. However, Hyderabad, the Truth Labs stood by its findings, and claimed that the recording was “not continuous and fabricated”. The Truth Labs felt, though, that the “evidence given to us and CFSL might be different”.
Prominent civil society leaders Kiran Bedi and Arvind Kejriwal (also a panel member) rallied to the Bhushans’ support, saying that “no one will resign”. They said they were “firmly behind the Bhushans” and added: “We appeal to them not to succumb to pressure and resign. They have a limited but effective role in drafting the bill.” Ms Bedi then tried to give a political twist by saying that during the meeting between civil society members and the government, “we suggested (keeping) a leader from the Opposition parties in this group, but the government rejected it. If our demand was accepted, it would have been a more inclusive group.”
Mr Kejriwal said: “These are difficult times, and corrupt forces are targeting us.” He went on to add, however, that “if anything comes out against Bhushans in the inquiry, then they would quit the panel.”
The Karnataka lokayukta, Justice Santosh Hegde, who is expected to be in New Delhi on Saturday, said he was “sad about the developments”. Asked if the Bhushans should resign from the committee, he said that “certainly, I would have acted differently”. AICC general secretary Digvijay Singh, in another dig at Mr Shanti Bhushan, said: “Shanti Bhushan carries out his own investigation on himself, and then says: I am clean... This is a new way of conducting investigations.”