Conversation on CDs doctored, claims Amar singh

After the rap from Supreme Court in the telephone tapping case, Amar Singh on Thursday claimed that the CDs containing his purported conversations with politicians, Bollywood stars and corporate honchos were "concocted".

He also claimed that the SC order lifting gag order on their broadcast and publication would encourage people to use illegal means tap private conversations in the future.

The Supreme Court yesterday lifted the five-year old gag on CDs containing his his tapped conversations in which he is heard talking to politicians, bollywood stars and corporate bigwigs and purportedly fixing deals.

Admitting that the voice in the CD was his, he said since his phone being tapped for a year, the people behind it had a "bank" of his voice samples which were "concocted and doctored" to create the CDs.

"My voice is there in the CDs but it has been cut and pasted and edited," he said. Singh lamented that the Supreme Court was silent on those who had actually carried out the tapping and said the government should have been asked to carry out the investigation.

He said contrary to expectations, he was happy that the gag order has been lifted.

"I am not a saint. But I am neither a villain as is being projected," he said. Singh also said he had not sought the gag order, but it was the then chief justice who had ordered a  ban on broadcast and publication of the contents of the CDs.

He said though the apex court has allowed him to file a case against Reliance Infocom for illegally tapping his phone, he would not exercise the option.

"I will not file a case against Reliance as they were misled into believing that the security agencies have authorised them to tap my phones," Singh told a press conference in New Delhi.

Singh, who was expelled from the Samajwadi Party, claimed that the SC order lifting the gag would create a "wide field" and people using illegal means can tap all sorts of conversations.

He said even the proceedings of the Supreme Court Collegium can be tapped using bugs "because there is no gag now".

To a question, Singh said he decided to remove Congress President Sonia Gandhi's name as one of the respondents in the case as his fight was to get the government frame privacy laws and he had nothing against the Congress leader.

When asked whether he was planning to join Congress, he termed as an imagination of media's fertile mind. Attacking lawyers Shanti and Prashant Bhushan, he said it was time the senior Bhushan gives his voice samples to confirm whether it was he who was speaking to SP chief Mulayam Singh Yadav in one of the alleged tapped conversations.

During the course of the hour-long press conference, Singh at time admitted that he had talked to Yadav with regard to a judge of the Allahabad High Court when the bench was hearing a case relating to disqualification of Bahujan Samaj Party members of legislative assembly who had joined the SP.

"I did that as I was advised to do so by Shanti Bhushan who had contested the case on SP's behalf. But Mulayam Singh was against taking any such step...I can only advice, it is upto the person on a constitutional post to take a call," he said.

He also admitted talking to various corporate big shots but maintained that he did not remember most of the conversations.

"I am two-in-one. I am a businessman and a politician. I can always talk business with others. As chairman of the UP State Development Council (during SP's rule) I had talked on issues which concern the interest of businessmen and farmers alike...I had the power of my tongue but had no power to take decisions," he said.

Singh also slammed civil society activists for coming to Greater Noida where "human rights" violations were taking place.  "The Bhushans could have at least come as they live in Noida. What happened to Arvind Kejrival and Kiran Bedi, Hazare baba also did not come," he said.