Lokpal Co-Chair in CD controversy

NDTV

New Delhi, 16 April 2011:  Shanti Bhushan, picked by civil society representatives to co-chair a new committee in charge of drafting a law on corruption, is now the epicenter of a new controversy- hours before the committee meets for the first time.

 

A CD  - sent anonymously to media houses -  purportedly has a conversation between politicians Amar Singh, Mulayam Singh Yadav and Shanti Bhushan.

 

The voice of a man purported to be Shanti Bhushan suggests that a judge can be bribed (NDTV is withholding the name of the judge since we cannot verify the contents of the CD).   

 

Mr Bhushan has in the past served as Law Minister. A voice, purportedly  his, says this his son, Prashant, can do this for four crores. Prashant Bhushan is also on the Lokpal Drafting Committee, along with activists Arvind Kejriwal and Anna Hazare.

 

Prashant Bhushan said that while the voice on the CD may be his father’s, it needs to be tested at a forensic lab - and that different conversations seems to have been spliced together to create a false narrative. He said that his father has never met Amar Singh.

 

Prashant Bhushan believes this is "a concerted campaign" to smear the representatives of civil society that will work alongside five ministers to draft the Lokpal Bill. He described the CD as "fabricated" and said he has lodged  a police case to determine who has created and circulated it.

 

This evening, media offices in Delhi received CDs delivered anonymously - these CDs are of a phone conversation purportedly between Mr Bhushan, Samajwadi Party Chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, and Amar Singh, who was a senior Samajwadi Party leader himself till a high-volume falling out with Mr Yadav a few months ago.

 

NDTV cannot authenticate whether the voices on the CD are indeed of these three men.  

 

The conversation on the CD suggests that Shanti Bhushan and Amar Singh are together when Mr Singh calls Mr Yadav. A man, purportedly Mr Singh, hands the phone to a man - purportedly  Mr Bhushan - who states a judge handling  a case that Mr Singh and Mr Yadav refer to can be bribed. The voice that is purportedly Mr Bhushan’s suggests that his son, Prashant, can help with this.