Doctoring of tapes denied

By J. Venkatesan

NEW DELHI, SEPT. 26. Mr. Pradip Krishen, film director engaged by the Tehelka portal, today disputed before the Venkataswami Commission the expert opinion given by Mr. Milind Kapoor that there was a possibility that the portal's tapes could have been doctored. Deposing before the Commission today as an expert witness, Mr. Krishen said it was not possible to delete the sound or video alone on the format used by the news portal. He said if the sound had to be deleted, the corresponding video footage should also be deleted.

Mr. Krishen thus differed with Mr. Kapoor who had said on Monday that doctoring, deletion, interpolation, addition etc. was possible without affecting the sound or the picture while editing the tapes which he also demonstrated before the Commission. He denied the charge of counsel for Ms. Jaya Jaitley that he was deposing as an expert because of his alleged economic link with the portal's CEO, Mr. Tarun Tejpal.

Counsel submitted that the book `God of Small Things' written by his wife, Ms. Arundhati Roy, was published by `India Ink' company in which Mr. Tejpal was a partner and that he was biased in giving his opinion. Mr. Krishen, however, agreed with counsel that there could be different opinions from two experts. When counsel wanted to know whether it was advisable to refer the unedited tapes for examination by a panel of ``neutral'' experts, Mr. Krishen said ``you can get an unambiguous opinion on the genuineness of the tapes, if they were examined by other experts''.

He, however, said that no such expert was available in New Delhi and if at all the tapes could be sent only to a technical laboratory in the United States.

Mr. Umashankar, another expert on sound recording, also denied the charges of ``doctoring'' of the tapes. He said there was no break or cut in the sound recording which could suggest ``manipulation'' of the audio track. He said there was no discontinuity or manipulation in the four frames shown by Mr. Kapoor.

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