New Delhi, Nov 3 – In a major development, the National Forensic Science Laboratory (NFSL), Gandhinagar, has informed the Supreme Court of India that the audio recordings allegedly linking former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to the 2023 ethnic violence in Manipur show clear evidence of tampering and are thus unfit for voice-comparison.
Manipur Audio Tapes Tampered, Can't Say If Voice Matches With Ex-CM Biren Singh : NFSL To Supreme Court |@AmishaShriv #SupremeCourt #Manipur https://t.co/cbCuFz6F0O
— Live Law (@LiveLawIndia) November 3, 2025
During hearings in the case of Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust vs. the Union of India, a Bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Alok Aradhe examined the sealed NFSL report. The Court has directed that the NFSL’s final report (dated October 10, 2025) be shared with both parties and scheduled the next hearing for December 8.
From the contents of the report, Justice Kumar noted that “four exhibits showed signs of modification and tampering. Therefore, they conclude that the clips are altered, do not constitute the original source recording and are not scientifically fit for forensic voice comparison.” Because of this, the Court added, no opinion could be offered on the similarity or dissimilarity of the speakers in the audio.
Representing the petitioner, advocate Prashant Bhushan cited a separate forensic analysis by the private lab Truth Labs, which claimed that a 50-minute recording (labelled Y1) was unedited and had a 93% probability of being the voice of the same individual. The Court granted access to the NFSL report so the petitioner may file a detailed response.
The petitioners seek a court-monitored investigation into the alleged recordings, which are claimed to implicate Biren Singh in inciting or orchestrating ethnic violence in Manipur. Earlier, in August 2025, the Court had asked NFSL to determine whether the clips were edited, following an earlier inconclusive report from the Guwahati Forensic Sciences Laboratory.
Meanwhile, on February 3, 2025 the Court had sought a report from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL) on the same recordings. The ongoing judicial scrutiny signals the seriousness with which the apex tribunal is treating the matter, especially given the gravity of the ethnic unrest.