The bench then posted the matter for a fresh report in the week of July 21.Advocate Prashant Bhushan, appearing for petitioner Kuki Organisation for Human Rights Trust (KOHUR), said the probe related to the former chief minister and it should be fair, the CJI said, “Now we have the President Rule there, it should not be a problem.”The matter was subsequently kept on August 4.The state government earlier informed the bench that a forensic report on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips alleging the role of Singh in the ethnic violence was ready to be filed.Singh resigned as the chief minister of Manipur on February 9, amid rumblings within the state BJP and growing demands for a change in leadership.The top court had previously sought a sealed-cover forensic report from the CFSL on the authenticity of the leaked audio clips alleging Singh’s role in the ethnic violence that began in May 2023.KOHUR had sought a court-monitored SIT probe into Singh’s alleged role.Bhushan termed the contents of the audio leaks a “very serious matter” and said Singh was purportedly heard saying that Meitei groups were allowed to loot arms and ammunition of the state government.On November 8 last year, a bench headed by former CJI D Y Chandrachud directed KOHUR to produce material to indicate the authenticity of some of the leaked audio clips.Over 260 people were killed and thousands displaced since the ethnic violence broke out between the Imphal valley-based Meitei and neighbouring hills-based Kuki communities in May 2023.The clashes began after a “Tribal Solidarity March” was organised in the hill districts to protest against an order of the Manipur High Court on the Meitei community’s demand for scheduled tribe status.Bhushan alleged that the recorded conversation prima facie showed the complicity and involvement of the state machinery in the violence against the Kuki Zo community.He said the clips had “disturbing conversations” and Singh could be heard instigating the violence and protecting the attackers.KOHUR’s plea alleged that Singh was instrumental in “inciting, organising and thereafter centrally orchestrating the large-scale murder, destruction and other forms of violence against the Kuki-dominated areas in Manipur.”
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