New Delhi : The Central government on Friday informed the Supreme Court that forensic analysis had found the audio recordings allegedly linking former Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh to the 2023 ethnic violence had been manipulated, urging the court to dismiss the petition seeking an independent investigation.

Appearing before a bench of Justices Sanjay Kumar and Sanjeev Sachdeva, Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati relied on a report prepared by the National Forensic Sciences University (NFSU), Gandhinagar, to contend that the recordings had undergone multiple alterations and could not be relied upon as authentic evidence.

Bhati argued that even the longer version of the recording, later submitted by the petitioner, contained numerous edits. Referring to inputs received from the Central Forensic Science Laboratory (CFSL), she told the court that the recording showed 41 alterations, and urged the bench to dismiss the petition with costs.

The bench, however, said both parties should be given adequate time to examine the latest forensic findings before advancing further arguments. It directed that copies of the six-page NFSU report, dated July 30, 2026, prepared by Dr Surbhi Mathur, Associate Professor at the School of Forensic Science, NFSU, Gandhinagar, be furnished to both the petitioner and the Centre.

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

The petition centres on audio clips that allegedly capture Singh admitting he had “fuelled insurgency and protected those who looted the arms” during the ethnic violence that erupted in Manipur in 2023.

The petitioner had originally submitted a 48-minute audio recording. In August 2025, the Supreme Court directed the NFSU to examine the recording and determine both its authenticity and whether the voice belonged to Singh.

The forensic institution subsequently concluded that the clip was an edited and truncated segment of a longer recording and stated that it could not conclusively establish either the authenticity of the audio or the identity of the speaker.

Following the submission of the complete recording, which runs for two hours and 26 minutes, the Supreme Court in April this year directed the NFSU to conduct a fresh forensic examination of the full audio and compare it with Singh’s admitted voice samples.

After hearing the submissions, the bench adjourned the matter, allowing both sides time to study the latest forensic report before the case proceeds further.