The Supreme Court on Monday recorded that the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL), Gandhinagar, has found the leaked audio clips purportedly implicating former Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh in the 2023 ethnic violence to be tampered with.
A bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe said the NFSL’s report concluded that the audio files showed signs of editing and manipulation, rendering them “not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison.”
“Consequently, no opinion regarding the similarity or dissimilarity of the speakers in the questioned and the controlled clips can be offered,” the bench noted, quoting directly from the report.
The apex court observed that, according to the laboratory’s findings, the leaked recordings were not original source files. They had been altered in ways that made it impossible to determine whether the voice in the clips matched that of the former chief minister.
Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), urged the court to direct that copies of the NFSL report be shared with the concerned parties. The bench accordingly directed the Supreme Court registry to circulate copies to all counsels and scheduled the next hearing for December 8.
Bhushan also referred to another forensic analysis that, according to him, found one of the clips to be unedited. Responding to Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, the bench remarked, “We have just shared the final conclusions in that report which say that the disputed recording has been tampered with.” Mehta added that the situation in Manipur was now “quite peaceful.”
This development follows the top court’s earlier dissatisfaction with the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), which it found to have taken a “misdirected” approach in testing the audio clips. On August 25, the court had transferred the forensic analysis to NFSL, Gandhinagar, asking it to determine whether the recordings were modified or tampered with, and to verify if the voice samples matched.
Previously, on May 5, the court had examined another forensic report and asked the state government to submit a fresh status report.
The petition by KOHUR seeks an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) probe into the alleged role of the then Chief Minister in the violence that erupted in May 2023 between the Meitei and Kuki communities. The clashes left over 260 people dead and displaced thousands.
The violence began after a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ was held in the hill districts to protest a Manipur High Court order on granting Scheduled Tribe (ST) status to the Meitei community.
KOHUR has alleged that Singh was “instrumental in inciting, organising, and orchestrating” violence against Kuki-majority areas. Singh, who resigned on February 9, 2025, amid political tensions within the BJP’s Manipur unit, has denied all allegations.
The Supreme Court had earlier sought a sealed-cover report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the audio clips, and on November 8, 2024, it directed KOHUR to produce material to establish their genuineness.
The matter will now be taken up on December 8, with the parties expected to respond to the NFSL’s findings.
