After three long years, Tehelka has been proved right. That the Tehelka Tapes are genuine.

Ever since the Operation West End story was made public on March 13, 2001, words such as “doctored”, “spliced”, and “manipulated” have been the primary defence of the accused against the damaging contents of the tapes.

The former chairman of the Commission of Inquiry, set up by the previous NDA government, Justice K Venkataswami, had on three separate orders pronounced the Tehelka Tapes to be genuine. Not satisfied, his successor, Justice SN Phukan decided on May 27, 2003 to send the tapes for forensic examination to an undisclosed, foreign location.

Today, the expert Mathew James Cass of the Bureau of Forensic Sciences Ltd., UK, appeared before the Phukan Commission in New Delhi.

In his 16-page report, Cass says he finds no reason to believe that the tapes are doctored. “In my opinion, there is nothing to indicate that the tapes supplied to me by the Justice SN Phukan Commission of Inquiry are not the ‘camera originals’ made at the time of the incident depicted.” Moreover, he adds that there is significant evidence to support the contention that they are the camera originals.

Cass also found no case of malicious editing, one of the key charges against Tehelka by the accused. He could only point out transcriptional inaccuracies.

Tehelka has always maintained that due to paucity of time and manpower, the transcripts provided to the Justice Venkataswami Commission of Inquiry may not have been absolutely accurate.

On June 15, Tarun J. Tejpal, editor-in-chief of Tehelka, had written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asking him to ensure that justice is done.