By: Express News ServiceNew Delhi | November 3, 2025 03:24 PM IST 3 min readThe plea has sought an independent investigation based on the tapes into Biren Singh’s alleged role in the violence, which has killed more than 200 people in Manipur since last May.A report by the National Forensic Sciences Laboratory, Ahmedabad, has concluded that audio clips submitted by a Kuki outfit to the Supreme Court to allege complicity on the part of former state chief minister N Biren Singh in the ethnic violence in Manipur were tampered with.The National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL) stated this in a report, which was shared with the Supreme Court, following which a bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe directed that a copy of the report be furnished to the petitioner.Reading from the report dated October 10, 2025, Justice Kumar said, “four exhibits showed signs of modification and tampering”. “Therefore, they conclude that the clips are altered and do not constitute the original source recording and are not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison”, and “consequently, no opinion on similarity and dissimilarity of the speakers in question and the control clips can be offered.”Appearing for the petitioner, the Kuki Organization for Human Rights Trust, Advocate Prashant Bhushan stated that a report by Truth Labs, a private entity, had previously indicated that a 50-minute sample was unedited and that there is a 93 per cent chance that the voice belongs to the same person.The court said it will provide him with the report so that he can respond to it. When Bhushan tried to defend the credentials of the Truth Labs, the court said, “We don’t know because this (NFSL) is supposed to be the premier forensic lab.”The counsel then sought to raise questions about NFSL, stating that it is government-owned. “More than a year and a half ago, it was sent to the government, and yet it remains uninvestigated by the government despite the very, very damaging conversations.”Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre, said, “We have just shared the conclusions in that report which say that the disputed recording has also been tampered with.”Story continues below this adMehta also pointed out that the state is now peaceful, and added, “Let’s not meddle with that. The plea has sought an independent investigation based on the tapes into Biren Singh’s alleged role in the violence, which has killed more than 200 people in Manipur since last May. The Manipur Government has termed the clips as fake, and said they were released on social media in an attempt to derail peace initiatives.The court will hear the matter next on December 9.© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:supreme court