NEW DELHI, April 30: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed for an examination of an audio clip allegedly linking former Manipur chief minister N Biren Singh to the ethnic violence in the northeastern state by the National Forensic Sciences University in Gujarat.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and K Vinod Chandran issued the direction after advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, ‘Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust’, an NGO, argued that they were placing on record the complete audio clip, which was more than two hours long.
The bench directed the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) to analyse the recording and compare the voice sample in it with the admitted voice samples of Singh.
Related Posts:
It said, “Prashant Bhushan, counsel for the petitioner, states that the full audio clip of two hours and 36 minutes has been copied onto a pen drive from the original device. The said pen drive, being the first copy of the original, shall be furnished to the other side, to be forwarded to the NFSU for comparison with the admitted voice recordings of the individual concerned.”
On January 7, the top court ordered a forensic examination of a 48-minute audio recording, which, the NGO alleged, pointed to the role of Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence in Manipur.
It had directed that the entire available leaked audio be forwarded to the NFSU, Gandhinagar, for forensic examination.
“The entire 48 minutes of the conversation in question, along with the admitted voice recordings of the former Manipur chief minister, are available… All the voice recordings furnished to the respondents by the learned counsel for the petitioner shall also be included therewith and forwarded to the National Forensic Science University in Gandhinagar,” the bench had ordered then.
It had also asked the NFSU to expedite the process and submit the final report in a sealed cover.
The top court had said that the audio clips in question may be examined to determine whether they were modified, edited or tampered with in any manner.
It had also asked the NFSU to determine whether the voice in the disputed audio clips matched the voice in the admitted audio clips, to give a clear finding that it was the same person who was speaking in all the audio clips.
On December 15 last year, the bench questioned why the entire available leaked audio clips were not sent for forensic examination.
The top court had said that it was a “little disturbed” by the affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioners on November 20, 2025, that “states to the effect that only select clippings were sent”.
The NFSU had earlier virtually given a clean chit, saying the leaked audio clips were “tampered with”.
Singh resigned as the chief minister of Manipur on February 9 last year, amid rumblings within the state BJP and growing demands for a change in leadership.
The apex court was hearing the petition filed by the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), which has sought an independent SIT probe into the matter.
On November 3, 2025, the apex court noted that the NFSU had said that the leaked audio clips were “tampered with”.
According to the NFSU’s report, the audio clips exhibited signs of editing and tampering and were not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison, the court had said.
Bhushan had referred to a separate forensic report and said it had found that one of the recordings was unedited.
On May 5 last year, the apex court examined a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips and asked the Manipur government to file a fresh report on the probe.
The top court had previously sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips.
More than 260 people were killed and thousands displaced since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023.
The clashes began after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was organised in the hill districts to protest against a Manipur High Court order on the Meitei community’s demand for Scheduled Tribe (ST) status.
Bhushan had alleged that the recorded conversation prima facie showed the complicity and involvement of the state machinery in the violence against the Kuki Zo community.
KOHUR’s plea alleged that Singh was instrumental in “inciting, organising and thereafter centrally orchestrating the large-scale murder, destruction and other forms of violence against the Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur”. (PTI)
