Bhushans likely to move SC over ‘doctored’ CD

The father-son duo of Shanti and Prashant Bhushan – both on the drafting committee for the anti-corruption lokpal bill – on Sunday once again insisted that a CD recording of them apparently offering to 'fix' a judge was doctored, and added that they may file a contempt petition in the Supreme Court in the case.

A day before the lokpal committee met for the first time on Saturday, media offices in Delhi received CDs delivered anonymously. On the disc, a voice resembling Shanti Bhushan's says that most judges are corrupt and that Prashant can fix a certain judge for Rs4 crore.(See: Lokpal controversy: Shanti Bhushan 'heard' saying judge can be bribed)

The other voices are purportedly those of Samajwadi Party leader Mulayam Singh Yadav and his now estranged ex-lieutenant Amar Singh.

Addressing the media last evening, Prashant Bhushan and fellow panel member Arvind Kejriwal said they had got the CD examined by two forensic laboratories, one in the US and the other in Hyderabad. They released the lab reports to the media, saying both reports confirm doctoring.

Prashant Bhushan claimed that the CD controversy is a conspiracy to discredit the non-government members of the drafting committee, and the doctoring of the CD has the backing of ''powerful people''.

The development threatens to spark a face-off between the union government and the civil society members of the committee.