BeyondHeadlines News Desk
New Delhi: Veteran social activist Anna Hazare, who recently staged a hunger strike to press the government to set up a joint committee to draft the anti-graft or the Lokpal Bill, yesterday came out in support of former Union Law Minister and veteran lawyer Shanti Bhushan, who is co-chairman of the 10-member joint committee to draft the Lokpal Bill, and dismissed the CD allegations against him.
Hazare said: “We believe in democracy. We will have to accept it. We have to take everyone into confidence including the political class.” However, while he was flexible in bowing to the wishes of Parliament, he was firm on his demand for videography. He made it clear that he would continue to insist on the telecast of the meeting of the committee. He said he was told about the drawbacks of telecasting the meetings. He said audio recording of the meeting was done. “What is the harm in videography? I will insist on videography of the proceedings at the next meeting.” Hazare said the CD, which was in circulation for the last few days, seemed to be doctored. He said the conversations in the CD between Shanti Bhushan and Mulayam Singh were doctored.
Prashant Bhushan, member of the joint committee, yesterday said that the CD had conclusively been established to be fabricated. Addressing a press conference, he said he saw a larger conspiracy behind the circulation and timing of the CD.
“At least three portions of Mulayam Singh’s speech in this CD have been lifted from the tapes I had filed in the Supreme Court in 2006, asking it to remove the injunction restraining the media from publishing Amar Singh’s intercepted phone conversations. All the three known instances of fabrication have been lifted from a single three-minute conversation Amar Singh had with Mulayam Singh,” he said.
He said two labs that specialise in audio analysis forensically examined the CD. Though the voice appears to be genuine, the conversation has been picked from various places. “There are gaps and editing signatures in the CD,” he added.
