Biren Singh’s audio clip altered, says Centre; SC allows Manipur civil society group to access report

Biren Singh

| Photo Credit: ANI

The Supreme Court on Friday (August 7, 2026) directed the Union government to share the latest report by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU) with the petitioner-NGO Kuki Organisation for Human Rights in a case seeking probe into the alleged involvement of former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh in the ethnic violence in the northeastern State.According to the report, the leaked audio clips alluding to Mr. Singh have been “clearly manipulated”.Appearing before a Bench headed by Justice Sanjay Kumar, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati, representing both the Centre and the State of Manipur, said even the first-generation copy of the audio clippings outed by a whistleblower showed alterations.Ms. Bhati asked the top court to dismiss the petition.Advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing the NGO-petitioner, strongly objected to the report, saying tests of the audio clippings done at Truth Labs had shown a 93% match with Mr. Singh’s voice. Agreeing to keep the report confidential, Mr. Bhushan said he would nevertheless counter its findings in court on the next date of hearing.Select clippingsThe court, in an earlier hearing, had asked the petitioner-NGO to hand over to the national forensics lab a ‘first generation copy’ of the full audio tapes.On December 15 last year, the court had questioned why the entire available leaked audio clips were not sent for forensic examination. The court had conveyed its unease at the affidavit filed on behalf of the petitioners on November 20, 2025, that stated that “only select clippings were sent” for forensics.The petitioner has sought an independent SIT probe into the matter.More than 260 people were killed and thousands displaced since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023.The court listed the case next for hearing on October 5. Published - August 08, 2026 01:59 am IST