NEWDELHI: The Union Government told the apex court on Tuesday that corporate lobbyist Niira Radia’s tapes broadcast by media houses had been tampered with and that government agencies were not responsible for the leakage.
A confidential report in this regard was placed in a sealed cover before a Bench comprising Justice G S Singhvi and Justice Asok Kumar Ganguly.
The government averred that there were eight to 10 agencies, including service providers, involved in the tapping of the telephonic conversation of Radia. The Bench went through a few initial pages of the report which stated that there was indeed tampering with the conversations which were released by the media.
The starting and the end point of the conversations did not match with the original tapes, Justice Singhvi said, referring to the report. He said the report stated that the officers who had conducted the probe did not know who had leaked out the same. It is quite possible that someone else has done it, he added.
In 2010, the government, which had taken a stand that the issues raised by Tata Group Chairman Ratan Tata in his petition relating to the tapes leak required probe, had turned down his plea to take steps to stop publication of leaked transcripts.