In what could spell trouble for Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naidu, the Telangana State Forensic Science Laboratory (TSFSL) has confirmed that the call recordings in nominated MLA Bishop Harry Sebastian's phone are unedited.
The lab also said that the transcripts of the conversations made by the Anti-Corruption Bureau (ACB) are genuine, a Times of India report adds.
Telangana TDP legislator A. Revanth Reddy was arrested by the ACB on May 31 when he was offering Rs.50 lakh to Stephenson to make him vote for TDP-BJP candidate in the elections to Telangana legislative council.
ACB, which had laid a trap on a complaint by Stephenson, also arrested Revanth Reddy's aides. TRS leaders have been alleging that Naidu is the mastermind in the scam and he should be booked.
The ACB had earlier said that there were 516 telephone conversation records in Sebastian's phone, of which 102 related to the cash-for-vote case.
However, the most important phone call was one alleged to be between Elvis Stephenson and Chandrababu Naidu.
"One of the conversations that the forensic lab authenticated was between Naidu and Stephenson," TOI quotes an ACB source as saying.
The audio tape was first played by T News, a Telugu news channel owned by ruling TRS and was later picked up by others.
During the conversation, Naidu purportedly assured the nominated member that he is with him. "Our people briefed me. I am with you don't bother. For everything I am with you. What all they spoke we will honour," Naidu was heard as telling the legislator.
The forensic lab report affirming the content in Sebastian's phone as not doctored was received by the ACB through the court two days ago.
Complainant Elvis Stephenson statement before the magistrate claims that the phone call occured at 4 pm on May 30 and that the voice in the phone call was Naidu's.
The ACB is soon expected to seek for a voice sample of Naidu through the court for voice comparison test as it had earlier sought the voice samples of the accused including TDP MLAs Revanth Reddy from the Assembly session.
Meanwhile, the Andhra government has been denying that it is Naidu's voice and has vowed to fight it legally.