Are the Tehelka tapes genuinely undoctored? In its wisdom, the Venkataswami Commission of Inquiry refused to get the "original" tapes forensically examined, leading to angry charges and counter charges. The latest to join the chorus seeking a scientific analysis of the tapes is British forensic specialist Christopher Mills, who says he routinely lends his expertise to the FBI, the Royal Navy and Scotland Yard.

ANALYSIS IN PROGRESS: Mills was Jaitly's grist

Mills was in Delhi recently at the behest of the Samata Party's Jaya Jaitly, one of those accused of taking money from West End, the fictitious firm that Tehelka set up for the operation. Mills deposed before the commission, making telling observations on 17 minutes (out of four and a half hours) of footage he analysed:

> Where events on copy tapes indicate a degree of uncertainty in continuity or that something untoward has happened, it would seem sensible to allow independent analysis of the original.

> Content and context of copy material is open to manipulation while"reorganising" the original for transmission.

> The MPEG1 (video) copy material indicates manipulation of the audio information has been undertaken separately from the video information.

"It is not comprehensible to me why the commission is shying from getting the original tapes examined. How can it be sure that there has been no doctoring?" asks Mills.

A question that Mills and Jaitly are now asking everybody. Over to team Tehelka for the answer.

-Sayantan Chakravarty

Party Time

INSISTENT ALLIES: Rajnath

The polls may well be an anti-climax. The BJP in Uttar Pradesh may have a bigger fight just sharing seats with its allies. There are many contenders: Janata Dal (United) President Sharad Yadav wants 27; Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan wants 50; Union minister Maneka Gandhi wants 10; and Rashtriya Lok Dal chief Ajit Singh wants 60-65. Then, the BJP has to contend with the demands of the 18 Loktantrik Congress Party MLAs who are ministers in the Rajnath Singh Cabinet. The party has announced it will contest 325 seats out of 403, setting off a mad scramble.

-Sharad Gupta

Doctor Sleaze

Retribution came to Dr L. Prakash on Christmas Eve. A multi-crore rupee sleaze scandal came to light after a youth from Pondicherry complained to the police that the Chennai-based doctor forced him to have sex with women and filmed it. Police say Prakash had been filming young boys and girls, including those working at his clinic in Anna Nagar, and had launched two pornographic websites. His farmhouse in Kalanchikuppam, Tiruvallur, served as his studio, and he apparently sent thousands of pornographic CDs to the US and France. There's still more-reports about a missing girl have resurfaced after police found her photos in Prakash's collection.

-Arun Ram

GOLDEN PUMPKIN

SOUNDBITE MAN: Vaidya

From his spartan office in Delhi's congested Karol Bagh where he holds court each evening, M.G. Vaidya is the RSS' official quote supplier. Whether it is Ayodhya, terrorism, complex economics or mundane politics, Vaidya is an unending source of soundbites. Never mind the banality, the septuagenarian delights in his role as the real voice of an organisation that doesn't have a corporate view on most subjects.

On January 8, Vaidya dropped a bombshell by announcing that the controversial K.N. Govindacharya was "no longer a pracharak". The unstated implication was that the former BJP general secretary had been finally freed from the rigours of bachelorhood, a precondition for remaining a pracharak.

Vaidya's bite of the day incensed saffron circles. Sangh political minder Madan Das Devi said it was unauthorised. A shamefaced Vaidya clarified at his evening soiree that Govindacharya had sought voluntary retirement to pursue studies-a state of elevated detachment that may soon be forced on him too.

-Amarnath K. Menon