CD involving my father is a 'cut-paste job': Prashant Bhushan

(Incorporates 'Hazare' series)
New Delhi, Apr 17 (PTI) The war over an alleged CD
involving eminent lawyer Shanti Bhushan intensified on Sunday
with his son Prashant claiming the disc was "doctored" using
2006 conversations of Mulayam Singh Yadav and said he will
move the Supreme Court of India on the ground it was intended
to influence judgements in 2G and Amar Singh tape cases.
"The whole thing is a cut and paste job," said Prashant
Bhushan, who along with his father are members of the Lokpal
Bill joint drafting committee.
Claiming that the forensic analysis done by an US expert
George Papcun and Hyderabad-based Truth Labs had shown that
the CD has "multiple gaps and signs of electronic editing at
very very critical places", Prashant Bhushan said this showed
a "very very ominous conspiracy with the blessings of many
many powerful people including corporates and politicians"
to derail judicial proceedings.
Amid a demand for removal of Shanti Bhushan, who is the
co-chairman drafting committee, over the CD controversy,
social activist Anna Hazare said he should remain on the panel
but action should be taken against him if found guity.
"If found guilty, he deserves to be punished but if
not, he is innocent. How can I give a guarantee about any
person. I got to know him only because of this committee. I
can give guarantee only about myself," Hazare said when asked
whether he could give a guarantee about Bhushan's credentials.
Addressing a press conference here, the junior Bhushan
alleged that political leader Amar Singh appeared "prima facie
involved" with the making of the controversial CD while not
ruling out the involvement of "people in the government".
Prashant Bhushan said that if any government
functionary or a member of the panel was found involved in it,
then "there will be a problem". However, he said he was not
dragging anyone else's name as of now.
Prashant Bhushan claimed that "virtually all portions"
of the conversations of Yadav in the CD have been "bodily
lifted" from the 2006 tapes, which have purported
conversations of Amar Singh with various personalities and
submitted to Supreme Court by him.
"All parts of the conversation of Yadav have been
bodily lifted from the 2006 conversations between Yadav and
Singh and transplanted in the CD. The whole conversation in
the new CD is fabricated... it is a cut and paste job.
"Papcun in his initial analysis has said that there
are at least six clear signs of doctoring. Different
conversations have been put together to try and create an
impression that the conversation was genuine," he said.
He said this showed a "very very ominous conspiracy
with the blessings of many many powerful people, including
corporates and politicians, to try and derail judicial
proceedings in the 2G case related to cancellation of licences
and Amar Singh tape case in which the orders are reserved."
Bhushan said the conversation in the new CD refers to
Singh's remarks that he (Bhushan) can influence a particular
judge who is the presiding judge in the two cases.
He said the same judge was hearing the two cases and
the orders have been reserved. "The effort appears to be to
derail the judicial process in 2G case as well as the Amar
Sing tape case," he said.
Clearly, he said, the conspiracy involves a large
number of people.
Pointing fingers at Singh, he said, "prima facie, he
is involved... my father has never met Amar Singh but in the
CD he says Shanti Bhushan is sitting next to him. If there is
no editing in that portion of conversation, it will become
crystal clear that Amar Singh has involved himself in
fabricating this CD."
In the next two days, Prashant said, he will issue a
legal notice to Singh for contempt of court and hoped that the
Supreme Court will investigate the matter to reach at the
"root and bottom" of the conspiracy.
Singh could not be contacted for comments as his
office said he was away in Varanasi.
He also expressed surprise at Congress leader Digvijay
Singh's comments that they evaded stamp duty for a property
they bought in Allahabad. "I will file a defamation suit
against Digvijay Singh in the next two days," he said.
On the purported comment of the senior Bhushan that
Prashant can manage a particular case with Rs four crore, he
said his father would have said "four crore" in some other
context but is used here.
Asked about Delhi Police investigations into the
complaint filed by senior Bhushan in the CD case, Prashant
said police was "deliberately" trying to delay so that the
issue prolongs in the media to pressurise the judge to recuse
himself from the 2G and Amar Singh cases.
On questioned how the Bhushans stumbled upon the 2006
tapes, he said he had the tapes with him as he was fighting
the case. "The experts wanted voice samples to examine the new
CD and we were going through it. My sons realised that the
2006 conversations of Yadav were exactly the same as in the
new CD," he said.
To a question on Singh's claim that the 2006 CDs were
fake, he said the political leader was contesting against
making the conversations public but never challenged the
veracity of the tapes.
"He was asking is pappu ka papa kaun hai? This CD's
papa will be certainly known and we will make every effort to
ensure that people behind it go to jail," he said.
Asked whether he had ever met Yadav or Singh, the
junior Bhushan said that he had met the Samajwadi Party chief
a couple of times but not Singh.
"Singh called me once to convey that SP has signed the
impeachment petition against Justice P D Dinakaran and said he
has done his bit and said he should to be kind to him (as
Prashant was fighting a case against him)," he said.
Bhushan also alleged it appeared that a section of
media was also involved in the conspiracy. He said the media
should publicise which institutions they approached to get an
authentification of the CD.