Bhushan CD doctored, says Chandigarh forensic lab

A controversial compact disc (CD) purportedly containing a conversation between Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and parliamentarian Amar Singh is doctored, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, has said.

A controversial compact disc (CD) purportedly containing a conversation between Team Anna member Shanti Bhushan, Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh and parliamentarian Amar Singh is doctored, the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), Chandigarh, has said.

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The report — made public following a directive from the Central Information Commission (CIC) — comes as a shot in the arm for Team Anna.

It contradicts the findings of Delhi CFSL and the CERT (Computer Agency Response Team) laboratory of the information technology ministry, both of which maintained the CD was original.

The CD had Shanti Bhushan purportedly telling Mulayam Singh and Amar Singh that a judge could be “fixed” for Rs 4 crore.

Bhushan claimed the CD, sent by unknown persons to various media houses, was fake and part of a deliberate smear campaign to discredit members of Team Anna.

His son Prashant Bhushan produced reports from two private labs — located in Hyderabad and the US — both of which said the CD had clear signs of cut and paste.

The Chandigarh CFSL reached similar conclusions.

“The recording is not original and is a post-production edited version,” read the report, signed by Dr SK Jain, deputy director of CFSL Chandigarh.

The report was sent to Delhi Police on May 2. But the Delhi Police declined to produce it despite a Right to Information (RTI) query, following which the matter reached the CIC.

“The findings have exposed the Delhi Police, which had distributed the reports of labs which did not have the expertise in dealing with sound analysis, but was willfully withholding the Chandigarh CFSL report,” Prashant Bhushan said.