Varun Gandhi

The Chandigarh-based Forensic Science Laboratory has confirmed that the three CDs with recordings from Varun Gandhi's alleged hate speeches are in his voice, an Uttar Pradesh police official has said. 

However, criminal charges against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)'s Pilibhit MP are yet to be substantiated because he had reportedly refused to give his voice sample to investigating authorities in Pilibhit, a top state police official told IANS.

"We have received the report of the CFSL and it confirms that it is Varun's voice. We have approached the home department of the state to file a chargesheet," Superintendent of Police Pilibhit Prakash D. told IANS.

Three criminal cases are registered against Varun Gandhi for the hate speeches he delivered during his election campaign in Pilibhit parliamentary constituency in March in the run-up to the Lok Sabha elections.

Confirming that the FSL had submitted its report, another official told IANS here: "We had sent three recordings of Varun Gandhi's speeches to the Chandigarh-based Forensic Science Laboratory. It is only a matter of formality to match his voice sample with that in the recordings."

"There were video recordings of the speeches too," he said, claiming that Varun Gandhi had refused to give his voice sample everytime he was approached by an investigating officer.

The official refuted media reports that the CDs had also been sent to a forensic laboratory in Hyderabad. "We had sent the voice recordings for test only to Chandigarh. I do not know how some TV channels have been talking about the involvement of the Hyderabad forensic lab," he wondered.

According to the Pilibhit police, three criminal cases were registered against Varun. While the first one, relating to the anti-Muslim speech he delivered at a public rally in Barkhera village of Pilibhit district on March 8, was registered on March 17, the second case was registered over the same incident at the behest of the Election Commission which took serious cognisance of that speech.

Another reported hate speech delivered by Varun Gandhi at Desh Nagar locality of Pilibhit town on March 7 was registered on March 19. Three evidence exhibits sent to the forensic lab for analysis included a compact disk, a mini video cassette that was recorded at Barkhera and a microchip, which contained a voice recording from Desh Nagar.

Besides the FSL report, the state police also have an array of evidence, like affidavits and recorded statements of 20 people. A total of six FIRs have been filed in Pilibhit against Varun Gandhi, who is currently out on bail.