NEWSLINKS US EDITION SOUTH ASIA COLUMNISTS DIARY SPECIALS INTERVIEWS CAPITAL BUZZ REDIFF POLL THE STATES ELECTIONS ARCHIVES SEARCH REDIFF
Within days of alleging that the Tehelka tapes were "doctored", former Samata Party president Jaya Jaitely on Monday claimed that the transcripts furnished by the news portal were "grossly inaccurate" and demanded "accurate" transcripts of the 100-hour tapes on the alleged corruption in defence deals.
Moving an application before the Venkataswami Commission probing the expose, Jaitely alleged that there were "material discrepancies" between the tapes and the transcripts.
Considering the plea, the commission asked Tehelka to respond to it. The news portal's reporter Anirudh Bahl had earlier filed a disclaimer in his affidavit saying the news portal held no responsibility for the discrepancies between the tapes and the transcripts, which were made under the paucity of time and money.
The application stressed the need to get "true, accurate and genuine depiction" of the contents of the tapes saying it was essential to enable the applicant to effectively present her case before the commission and to rebut all allegations that may be made against her.
Meanwhile, Tehelka filed its affidavit in response to the government's allegation of the expose not being a "honest journalistic endeavour" and alleged involvement of one Shanker Sharma, owner of First Global, along with Buffalo Network (owners of tehelka.com) in massive share market operations just before the sting operation.
The news portal, in its affidavit which was accompanied by Sharma's statement, said the charges were "irrelevant and irresponsible" and contradicted the charge that Sharma gained economically by massive operations in the share market before the expose.
If what the government was saying was true, Sharma would have gained only if he would have been a net seller. Whereas, he was a net buyer, which meant that he would have stood to lose on the day of the telecast after which it was claimed by the government that the market crashed, it said.
The affidavit further submitted that "what this commission of inquiry is witnessing is a most dangerous and draconian misuse of governance, where free, dissenting voices which criticise and expose, are sought to be targeted and muzzled".
When asked by the commission to file a response to the news portal's affidavit, Additional Solicitor General Kirit Raval sought some time saying the government would decide whether to file a rejoinder to Tehelka's affidavit or to take it up during witness examination.
PTI
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