Biren Singh Audio Case Takes Fresh Turn as Centre Says Recordings Were Manipulated

New Delhi: The Supreme Court case over audio recordings allegedly linking former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to the handling of the 2023 ethnic violence took a significant turn on Friday, with the Centre telling the court that forensic examination had found the recordings to have been manipulated and altered. The Centre, relying on a fresh report from the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, asked the Supreme Court to dismiss a petition seeking an independent investigation into the recordings, arguing that they could not be relied upon as authentic evidence.

The development is significant because the recordings have been at the centre of some of the most serious allegations against Singh over his government’s handling of the violence that erupted in Manipur on May 3, 2023. The controversy surrounding the alleged remarks has also formed an important part of the wider political circumstances in which Singh eventually resigned as Chief Minister in February 2025, after nearly two years of conflict.

Appearing before a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati relied on the latest NFSU findings to contend that the disputed audio had undergone multiple alterations. Referring also to inputs from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), she told the court that the recording showed 41 alterations.

Bhati urged the court to dismiss the petition with costs, maintaining that the material could not be treated as reliable evidence.

The Bench, however, did not make any determination on the competing claims. Instead, it directed that both sides be given adequate time to study the latest forensic findings before the matter is argued further.

The court ordered copies of the six-page NFSU report, dated July 30, 2026, and prepared by Dr Surbhi Mathur, Associate Professor at the School of Forensic Science, NFSU, Gandhinagar, to be furnished to both the petitioner and the Centre.

Senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for the petitioner, the Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust, questioned the Centre’s reliance on the NFSU findings. He referred to an earlier forensic assessment conducted by Truth Labs, which, he told the court, had found a 93 per cent match between the voices in the disputed recording.

The petition relates to audio clips in which Singh is alleged to have made remarks suggesting that he had “fuelled insurgency and protected those who looted the arms” during the ethnic violence.

The allegations have not been judicially established, and the authenticity of the recording remains disputed.

That question has now become the central issue in the proceedings.

The petitioner had initially submitted a 48-minute recording. In August 2025, the Supreme Court directed the NFSU to examine it and determine its authenticity as well as whether the voice was that of Singh.

The NFSU subsequently concluded that the clip was an edited and truncated portion of a longer recording. It said the material available at the time could not conclusively establish either the authenticity of the audio or the identity of the speaker.

The petitioner subsequently submitted what it described as the complete recording, running for two hours and 26 minutes. In April this year, the Supreme Court directed the NFSU to conduct a fresh forensic examination of the longer recording and compare the voice in it with admitted voice samples of Singh.

The latest report has now placed the Centre’s claim of manipulation directly against the petitioner’s reliance on the earlier Truth Labs assessment.

The stakes are considerable. If the Supreme Court ultimately accepts the NFSU findings, the evidentiary foundation of the petition seeking an independent investigation could be seriously weakened. If the petitioner succeeds in challenging the latest forensic conclusions, however, the earlier voice-comparison findings could continue to figure in the case.

For the moment, the Supreme Court has made no finding on the authenticity of the recordings, the alleged identity of the speaker or the truth of the allegations contained in them.

The Bench’s decision to give both sides time to examine the latest report means that the case has entered another critical phase, with the provenance and integrity of the audio now taking precedence over the larger allegations flowing from it.

The dispute over the recordings has endured alongside the broader political reckoning over Manipur’s prolonged ethnic conflict. Singh’s resignation in February 2025 came after months of mounting criticism of his government’s handling of the crisis, which had by then caused extensive loss of life and displacement.

The latest forensic findings do not settle that political history. But they could prove consequential for one of the most contentious legal questions arising from it: whether the disputed recordings can legitimately be used as evidence of what the former Chief Minister knew, said or did during the conflict.

The Supreme Court has adjourned the matter, allowing the parties time to study the fresh NFSU report before further arguments.

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