ED rubbishes AAP's claim of deleting interrogation audio

Enforcement Directorate sources on Tuesday refuted claims that audio recordings were deleted from the statement of an accused in the Delhi excise policylinked money laundering case adding that they will take a legal recourse against Delhi minister and AAP leader Atishi for levelling such allegationsThey said that the footage was recorded in videoonly format during interrogation as the CCTV system did not have audio recording facility at the time Audio recordings were added to the video capturing system of the ED interrogation process only in October last year sources saidAtishi 42 claimed in a press conference that the ED deleted audio recordings of the video footage that was made during the interrogation of an accusedA few days ago an accused had filed an application in the court seeking the CCTV footage of interrogation He was made to confront a government witness by the ED and it had happened in a room where there was a CCTV camera He moved an application since the statement submitted by ED in court was different from what had transpired in that room she allegedThe minister claimed that the footage submitted by the ED in court did not have audioED had deleted audio recordings of the video footage of the interrogation We have learnt from reliable sources that ED has deleted audio recordings of oneandhalfyears of interrogation carried by it in the case she alleged and challenged the probe agency to produce the recordings in the courtWe have also demanded in the court that the ED produce video and audio recordings of the interrogation she saidED sources said the allegations made by the minister were false baseless and malicious and that it will take appropriate legal recourse to counter her chargeThey said all statements recorded during interrogations held under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act PMLA were done under active CCTV coverage and the same have been supplied to the accused as sought by them and the trial court in the excise policy case was also provided the sameThe CCTV footage they claimed was however recorded in videoonly format as the then available CCTV system did not have the facility to record audioAgency officials said no audio recording was deleted by ED officials and the CCTV system at the agency was upgraded to record and store audio along with video only in October 2023Supreme Court guidelines had stipulated to keep the audio and video recording of statements for 180 days and the ED has upgraded its systems to ensure the compliance of the apex courts order late last year they saidThey added that the accused involved in the case has made the same statement before the court that he had recorded before the ED under the PMLAThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever