Bhushan CD is genuine, finds govt forensic lab

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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 US — 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 Rs 4 crore in the recorded conversation. “That the voice was his... has been admitted by Mr Bhushan. In what context was he talking about that amount? This particular remark is lethal,” said former Samajwadi leader Amar Singh.

The UP administration, which had issued a notice to Mr Shanti Bhushan and his three children for allegedly evading stamp duty to the tune of Rs 1.3 crore on purchase of property in a prime locality, has, 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.

Reacting to the CFSL report, Mr Bhushan’s lawyer son and fellow committee member Prashant Bhsuhan shot off emails saying: “Nobody yet appears to have seen the report. 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’s voice in this CD has been lifted from Amar Singh’s conversation with Mulayam, which had been filed by me in the SC in 2006.”

DIGGY TAKES A DIG

Congress leader Digvijay Singh asked Lokpal bill committee co-chairman Shanti Bhushan not to “threaten” him with defamation suits and instead come clean on the controversial CD and allotment of plots in Noida.

“I haven’t received the defamation notice given by Shanti Bhushan. I have taken a number of notices in the past and would like to reply in the court.”