The Central government on Friday told the Supreme Court that an audio recording allegedly linking former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh to the state's ethnic violence had been manipulated.
The submission was made before a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva after the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, placed its report on record regarding the authenticity of the recording.
Appearing for the Centre, Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati referred to the forensic findings and argued that the recordings contained several alterations.
Per Bar and Bench, she told the court, “Today I want to urge your lordship that this writ petition be dismissed with costs. Lordship may see what they have done now. I spoke to CFSL doctor and I told them to send me a letter and they have sent me a letter. Even this (an extended audio clip given recently by the petitioner) had 41 alterations, I am told. I'm told that there are same variations… same van.. Same lady. This is clearly manipulated.”
Petition alleges Biren Singh's role
The petition, filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, relied on an audio recording that allegedly captured Biren Singh admitting he had a role in fuelling insurgency and protecting those who looted weapons during the Manipur violence.
The petitioner had initially submitted a 48-minute recording. In 2025, the Supreme Court directed the NFSU to examine the clip and determine whether the voice heard in it belonged to Biren Singh.
The forensic laboratory found that the recording was a shortened version of a longer audio file. It also observed that while there was no evidence of deepfake or AI-generated editing, the clip had been edited, making it difficult to conclusively verify its authenticity or identify the speaker, Bar and Bench reported.
Court examines longer recording
The Supreme Court had earlier expressed concerns that the original 48-minute recording appeared incomplete.
The petitioner later produced a longer audio file, around two hours and 26 minutes in duration. Following this, the court directed the NFSU to analyse the complete recording and compare it with admitted voice samples of Biren Singh.
Appearing for the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan referred to an earlier analysis by Truth Labs, stating, “I'm in the face of a report given by premium forensic lab in the country whose founder was Justice Venkatachaliah. That Truth Lab gave an unequivocal report that there is a 93 Percent match in the voices.”
The Bench directed that copies of the NFSU's six-page report be provided to both the petitioner and the Centre before adjourning the matter for further hearing.