The Hindu : Forensic report on video vindicates stand: Mayawati

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, May 17, 2003

National

National

Forensic report on video vindicates stand: Mayawati

LUCKNOW MAY 16. The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister, Mayawati, today said that the forensic report of the controversial video CDs of the Samajwadi Party revealed that they were doctored and demanded a public apology from its leaders, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Amar Singh.

Speaking to reporters here, Ms. Mayawati claimed that the CDs, which were sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory, Chandigarh, on court orders, were found doctored after investigations.

``The report of the central laboratory vindicates my earlier stand that the VCDs were fake and doctored,'' she said.

Asking the SP leaders to seek public apology for releasing ``fake CDs to tarnish the image of the BSP,'' she said the police had already submitted the report of the laboratory before the concerned court on May 12 and the court had asked the respondent to file a counter affidavit in the next one week.

The SP released the first CD on March 3, in which Ms. Mayawati had been shown asking the party MPs and MLAs to contribute to the party from their development funds, while in the second CD released on April 8, the CM had allegedly made a statement against the Hindu pantheon. The BSP, subsequently, lodged a criminal case against the SP leaders, including Mulayam Singh Yadav, Amar Singh and six others here on April 14 for releasing the ``fake and doctored CDs.''

However, the Lucknow Bench of the Allahabad High Court had stayed the arrests of all the accused.

Poetess murder

In a dramatic twist to the sensational Madhumita Shukla murder case here, family members of the poetess today claimed she was not pregnant and also gave a clean chit to the Minister accused in the crime.

Ms. Mayawati, meanwhile, ruled out any effort to cover up the matter.

She told reporters tersely, ``I have already issued instructions to the police for an impartial investigation into the case.''

She claimed that the police had been instructed to adhere to rules in their investigation to ensure that none found guilty was spared.

The DGP, Hakam Singh, denied reports of hushing up of the case. ``There is no reason to cover up the issue and the investigations are on,'' he said.

Madhumita's sister, Nidhi, told a news channel today her sister was not pregnant and claimed that such reports were perpetuated to malign her family's image. However, when her attention was drawn to the post-mortem examination report confirming pregnancy, she alleged that the police were behind the conspiracy. — UNI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National