CHENNAI: A BJP delegation led by the party’s state vice-president VP Duraisamy met Governor RN Ravi on Sunday with a demand to order an independent forensic audit of an audio clip attributed to Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR). The audio clip, purportedly a recording of the finance minister’s interaction with journalists, alleges that a DMK minister and one of his relatives had amassed huge ill-gotten wealth.
The finance minister in a statement on Saturday had said the audio clip was not authentic and that forensic analysis of the audio clip proved that it is a clear case of manipulation by cutting and pasting several clips to defame the DMK and him.
Reacting to it, on Sunday, the BJP said it will urge the governor to initiate an independent forensic audit of the audio clip. In a statement, party’s state unit president K Annamalai said a six-member team will meet Governor RN Ravi to hand over a representation.
The statement also said, “We challenge him (Palanivel Thiaga Rajan) to produce an audio clip with similar content in my (Annamalai’s) voice. We shall submit both audio samples to a court-monitored investigation and let the investigating agency ascertain the genuineness of the clips.”
Annamalai had also shared the audio clip on his social media handle a few hours after it was first posted by certain social media personalities and a BJP functionary. Annamalai said the audio clip supports the claims he made in his “DMK files”.
However, the DMK in response had said BJP is unable to electorally make gains in the state and has been making baseless allegations against the ruling party. In his statement on Saturday, Thiaga Rajan said, “With the ability to create fabricated and machine-generated clips using advanced technology that is easily accessible, we should not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips in the coming days and months with ever-more malicious content.” Speaking to reporters outside the Raj Bhavan after meeting the governor on Sunday, Duraisamy said the governor has promised to initiate action.