The Manipur Police forwarded only short and edited audio clips to the National Forensic Science University laboratory instead of the complete 48-minute recording allegedly linking former Chief Minister N Biren Singh to the ethnic violence in the state, the Kuki Organization for Human Right Trust has alleged before the Supreme Court, Live Law reported on Friday.

The organisation made the allegations in an affidavit responding to a report submitted by the laboratory in October, which claimed that the audio clips had been tampered with and were not scientifically fit to compare the voice.

The laboratory had told the court that it could not provide an opinion on whether the voice in the clips is that of Singh.

In response, the Kuki Organization for Human Right Trust, in its affidavit, claimed that only “four short, cut-out clips of durations 0.30, 1.28, 0.36 and 1.47 minutes, recording, instead of the complete 48-minute and 46-second recording [were submitted], thereby giving an incomplete and misleading representation of the evidence”.

The organisation said that such “selective transmission of material raises serious concern regarding the bona fides of the respondent’s conduct and its impact on the fairness of the ongoing investigation”.

The court has been hearing a petition filed by the Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust, which has demanded an independent investigation into the audio clips purportedly featuring Singh’s voice.

In the recordings believed to be from 2023, a voice purported to be that of Singh is heard taking credit for “how and why the conflict started”, bragging that he had defied Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s order against the use of “bombs” in the conflict and shielding individuals who snatched thousands of weapons from the state police armouries from arrest.

At least 260 persons have been killed and more than 59,000 persons displaced since the ethnic clashes broke out between the Meitei and Kuki-Zo-Hmar communities in May 2023. There were periodic upticks in violence in 2024.

President’s Rule was imposed in February after Singh resigned as the chief minister.

In the affidavit submitted by the organisation, it said that it had filed the full 48-minute 46-second recording through a supplementary affidavit on January 22. At the time, the court had directed that this complete file be examined by a laboratory, it added.

However, the affidavit claimed that the Cyber Crime unit of the Manipur Police sent only four clips to the laboratory, Live Law reported. The affidavit stated that neither the petitioner nor its counsel was informed that only these fragments had been sent.

The laboratory could not verify the continuity or authenticity of the original recording, it said, adding that it also told the court that clips had been tampered with and were not scientifically fit for voice comparison.

On the other hand, a separate forensic report prepared by Truth Labs had found in January that the 50-minute recording was unedited and had indicated a 93% probability that the voice matched in the control sample.

“The report of Truth Labs thus reflects far greater scientific diligence and evidentiary value, whereas the Gandhinagar report suffers from procedural and methodological infirmities arising from the incomplete material forwarded,” Live Law quoted the affidavit as saying.

The affidavit reiterated its petition for a court-monitored Special Investigation Team to examine the recording and related allegations.

In August, the court directed that the audio clips be sent for a fresh forensic examination to the National Forensic Science University laboratory in Gandhinagar to verify their authenticity.

The court had said at the time that a fresh examination would help clarify two aspects: whether the audio clips were modified, edited or tampered with in any manner and whether the voice in the disputed clips matched the admitted audio sample with a clear finding on whether the same person is speaking in all the recordings.

The laboratory was asked to submit its report directly to the court in a sealed cover.

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