The Hindu : National : Tehelka tapes are original, says expert

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Jun 22, 2004

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National

Tehelka tapes are original, says expert

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JUNE 21. Tehelka.com, the news portal which had exposed alleged corruption in defence deals captured in secret video recordings, today received a shot in the arm when a London-based expert told the Justice S.N. Phukan Commission of Inquiry that the tapes were "original" and had not been "overdubbed." The startling disclosures made about three years ago in the videotapes which later came to be known as the "Tehelka Tapes" had led to the resignation of the then Defence Minister, George Fernandes.

Mathew James Cass told the one-man Phukan probe panel that the tapes were "edited" but there was no technical evidence to suggest that they have been "overdubbed," a contention made by the Samata Party leader, Jaya Jaitly, and Army officers been "captured" on tapes.

Shaken by the Tehelka revelations, the previous National Democratic Alliance Government had appointed the Justice Venkataswamy Commission of Inquiry to look into the expose and determine the authenticity of the tapes. Before writing his final report, Justice Venkataswamy quit and his place was taken by Justice Phukan.

"In my opinion, there is nothing to indicate that the tapes supplied to me by the Commission are not the camera originals made at the time of the incidents depicted. There is significant evidence to support the contention that they are the camera originals," Mr. Cass said. Associated with the Department of Electronic Evidence, he is also Senior Video, Audio and Imaging Expert at the Bureau of Forensic Science, London.

Talking to The Hindu from London, the Tehelka chief, Tarun Tejpal, said he was "relieved". "It is a reminder that how much justice has been delayed and also a point of strength for us as truth is on our side." Mr. Tejpal said that Tehelka and its promoter company, First Global, had been hounded and traumatised by the government agencies over the past three-and-a-half years. "As far as we are concerned, it has cleared everything. It is their (Government's) commission, their expert and their judge. We have always maintained that ours was a 100 per cent journalistic method of investigation. It is shameful that the process of justice has been delayed and we have been destroyed and still obnoxious attempts are being made to evade the truth. It is a litany of allegations and cases which we are facing," he said over phone.

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