Court reserves order on collection of Shiv Sena leaders' voice samples

The magistrate court reserved its order till February 28 on granting permission for the collection of voice samples of Milind Narvekar, personal assistant to Shiv Sena executive chief Uddhav Thackeray, and Shiv Sena MLC Neelam Gorhe.u00a0 A few days ago, the city police had moved court seeking permission to conduct voice samples of the Gorhe and Narvekar for allegedly plotting disturbance during the bandh called by the Shiv Sena in connection with the removal of the Dadoji Konddeo statue from the Lal Mahal premises on December 28 last year.u00a0


Lawyer Shrikant Shivde, who represented Narvekar and Gorhe, opposed the prosecution's plea to conduct the tests saying police can tamper with the evidence.

"The court can direct the police to produce all documents authorising the interception and transcripts along with the copy of conversation to avoid the possibility of tampering. The police claimed to have identified the voices. The accused apprehend that by asking the accused to repeat the conversation, the alleged tape conversation may be tampered," said Shivde.u00a0

Shivde told the court there are no rules specifying the collection of voice samples.

"Therefore, this court does not have powers to compel the accused for giving their voice samples," said Shivde.

Assistant Public Prosecutor Shilpa Mahatekar told the court that that the law is very specific about voice samples of the accused. "The amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) makes it possible for the police to take voice samples of the accused by taking order from a magistrate court. The police have already submitted the transcripts of the conversation to the court. Hence, there is no question of any tampering with the evidence," argued Mahatekar. After the argument, Judicial Magistrate (First Class) R L Wankhade on Monday reserved his order on the Bund Garden police plea seeking permission to conduct the voice sample tests of Gorhe and Narvekar.

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