Manipur CM faces possible legal troubles over alleged leaked tapes; hearing likely next week

In the eye of the storm over continuing ethnic violence in the state, Manipur Chief Minister N. Biren Singh is facing possible legal troubles after the Supreme Court took note of a sensational claim by a Kuki outfit based on alleged leaked tapes that he was instrumental in organising violence in the state.

The Supreme Court had on November 8, 2024, asked advocate Prashant Bhushan, representing Kuki Organisation for Human Trust, to produce the audio tapes to substantiate its allegations against the Manipur Chief Minister.

Bhushan had told a Bench led by CJI DY Chandrachud (since retired) that his client was in possession of audio tapes shared by a whistle-blower of telephone conversations of Singh which established “complicity of the highest functionary and others in ethnic violence in the State of Manipur”.

The petition – which demanded a court-monitored investigation by the Special Investigation Team into the leaked audio clips – was likely to come up for hearing on Monday.

Despite repeated requests made by Attorney General R. Venkataramani and Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta not to entertain the petition, the top court ordered the tapes to be produced in a sealed cover after Bhushan said revealing the whistle-blower’s name would put his life in danger.

As Mehta said the court may be “sitting in an ivory tower”, the then CJI had said it wanted to see the alleged materials, for it was very much alive to the constitutional rights of the people.