In TN audio row flare-up, Annamalai seeks forensic audit as PTR calls clip ‘fabricated’

In his statement, PTR asserted that it is Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin who plays a leader in his life for “whatever I am, and whatever I have done in public life,” adding that no “malicious” attempts to divide them will ever succeed. He said that “publicly available technical analysis of the alleged clip clearly shows it is not authentic”, flagging screenshots of an audio forensic analysis to argue that the clip in his name was a “clear case of manipulation by cutting and pasting several clips” to “defame” the DMK and him as they are on the offensive against the Sangh Parivar.

“With the ability to create fabricated and/or machine-generated clips using advanced technology that is easily accessible, we should not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips in the coming days and months with ever-more malicious content. I have already re-tweeted an example from the famous movie ‘The Great Escape’ on my Twitter handle @ptrmadurai,” the finance minister said. “I urge responsible politicians and the traditional media, which ought to function as an upholder of democracy, to only make allegations with or report on first-hand information, or at least authenticated and validated second-hand information from known sources.”

His statement added that even though it will take months to prosecute, and such action will provide further publicity to “outright lies and deception”, he will be forced to take legal action if the slander crosses the threshold of maximum tolerance.

PTR also said that the clip was released at a time when he was fully engaged in the Tamil Nadu Assembly’s budget session. “The landmark Finance Appropriation Bill for Rs 4,13,639 crores was passed on the 21st of April, after the legislature had cleared the demands for grants of 55 departments. On Saturday the 22nd, I processed all the files backlogged due to the budget, and there are no files pending till date,” he stated.

Tamil Nadu BJP president K Annamalai called Rajan’s statement a compiled form of “half-baked defenses in social media made by the DMK IT Wing for two days”. “Relying upon the fake audio analysis done by DMK IT Wing’s dimwits is used as a defense by a state finance minister, which only shows his lack of defense in this case… no one would believe this line of defense. What is stopping the state finance minister from calling for an ‘independent forensic analysis’ of the audio? Rs 30,000 crores in a year – Thiru @mkstalin has a lot to explain to the people,” he tweeted.

On Friday, Annamalai had tweeted the leaked 26-second audio clip with subtitles to charge that Rajan had purportedly spoken in it about Rs 30,000 crore being allegedly amassed by Stalin’s son and sports minister, Udhayanidhi Stalin, and Stalin’s son-in-law, Sabareesan.

Annamalai also issued a statement Sunday, stating that a party delegation will meet Governor Ravi to demand an independent forensic audit of the purported audio clip. Daring PTR to produce an audio clip with similar content but in Annamalai’s voice, the state BJP chief said: “We shall submit both audio samples to a court-monitored investigation and let the investigating agency ascertain the genuine nature of both audio clips. I will submit my voice samples, and we expect the State Finance Minister will also do the same. So, the State Finance Minister should understand that this is too big a case to be brushed under the carpet with weak statements posted as defenses.”

When contacted, a senior DMK leader, requesting anonymity, said the controversy would die down in a week, “He (PTR) is one of our best ministers. It is natural that he will be targeted,” he said. When asked about the BJP’s forensic audit demand, he said it can be done only if there is an FIR. “But the problem here is all about one person (PTR) being often a soft target before rivals who are attacking the ruling party. For his nature, Rajan would have immediately denied the allegation. He didn’t do that,” he said, adding that PTR should nip rows in the bud by immediately responding to accusations.