NEW DELHI, Nov 5: The Supreme Court on Monday revealed that the controversial audiotapes allegedly featuring former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh plotting communal violence were “modified, edited, and tampered with,” according to a forensic report submitted in a sealed cover by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSL), Gujarat.
The finding delivers a major setback to allegations that Singh, orchestrated the 2023–2025 ethnic clashes in Manipur that left over 200 people dead and displaced tens of thousands.
The tapes, leaked anonymously in August 2024 amid the height of unrest, had been submitted as key evidence in a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust. Represented by senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, the NGO claimed the 48-minute recording captured Singh instructing officials to “incite and orchestrate” attacks on Kuki-dominated areas, demanding a Supreme Court-monitored Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into alleged “complicity at the highest level.”
However, the NFSL report, commissioned by the apex court after an inconclusive test by Guwahati’s Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL), concluded that “the audio exhibits have been processed and altered and are not scientifically fit for voice comparison.” Justice Sanjay Kumar, reading out the report, noted that no definitive conclusion could be drawn on whether the voice matched that of the former Chief Minister, effectively disqualifying the recordings as credible evidence.
Bhushan contested the finding, referring to an independent forensic analysis by Hyderabad-based Truth Labs, which reportedly detected “no breaks” in the recordings and found a 93% probability match to Singh’s voice. “These tapes were sent to the government over a year ago but were never investigated,” Bhushan argued, accusing authorities of “deliberate inaction to protect powerful individuals.”
Co-counsel Cheryl D’Souza maintained that the violence in Manipur was “centrally orchestrated” under Singh’s leadership, with Kuki–Zo communities suffering “systematic killings and destruction.”
The Manipur government, during Singh’s tenure, had earlier dismissed the recordings as fabricated propaganda intended to derail peace efforts. Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor General Tushar Mehta had urged the court to allow state and high court mechanisms to handle the issue, warning that parallel proceedings could “aggravate tensions.”
Rejecting such arguments, the bench observed that constitutional accountability in a conflict-hit region could not be compromised. “We are not in an ivory tower—we’re alive to Manipur’s constitutional rights,” the court stated, while directing that the tampered recordings would no longer form the basis for any investigative conclusions unless corroborated by fresh evidence.
