TDP’s claim of US LAB report on MP’s Nude video fake, says CID

By Our Special Correspondent

In a latest twist to the controversy over a sleaze video of YSRCP MP Gorantla Madhav misbehaving with an unidentified woman, the state's Criminal Investigation Department (CID) on Thursday dismissed the TDP's claim as genuine.

Addressing the media here, CID Chief Additional Director General of Police PV Sunil Kumar said that the certificate issued by the Florida, US-based forensic lab was fake. Earlier, some TDP leaders claimed that the video was original based on the Eclipse forensics certificate. Madhav, representing Hindupur, asserted that it had "morphed".

ADGP Kumar said that an investigation has been conducted to find out the facts in the certificate as per the government's order. The official said the private forensic agency's report was not authenticated, not valuable and not admissible in court.

The CID chief said he contacted Jim Stafford of Eclipse Forensics via email and learned that the final report had been tampered with. The company's website describes Stafford as its owner and forensic engineer. Eclipse disclosed that it did not receive any request to analyze and check the authenticity of the video, the official added.

“Any video can be examined by a forensics (lab) only if the original source of the video can be identified. In the mail, Jim stated that he had recorded the video provided to him using a mobile device while playing it on another media device.

The video in circulation is not original so forensics cannot determine its authenticity. The main video is suspected to be morphed, but the video shot by a third person is genuine. That's what Jim told me," Kumar said.

He further read the email conversation with Stafford, where the expert reportedly reported to the officer that he was not asked to check the authenticity of the video and did not provide an opinion. "Without examining the actual video, I can't judge whether it's authentic or not," Stafford reportedly told Kumar. Kumar said that strict action will be taken against those who circulate the fake certificate on social media.