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New Delhi: Tamil Nadu Finance Minister Palanivel Thiaga Rajan (PTR) on Saturday dismissed as “fabricated” an audio clip which allegedly claimed that he had commented on the wealth of Chief Minister MK Stalin’s family members.
Tamil Nadu BJP chief K Annamalai recently tweeted the alleged clip. It claimed that PTR had exposed some “secrets” about the assets of DMK president MK Stalin’s son Udayanidhi and son-in-law Sabrisan.
In a two-page statement, PTR said that the audio clip is “malicious, fabricated” and said that anyone can create such an audio clip with the help of technology.
My statement on the 26-second malicious fabricated audio clip pic.twitter.com/KM85dogIgh
— Dr P Thiaga Rajan (PTR) (@ptrmadurai) April 22, 2023
PTR has attached screenshots of the forensic analysis of the audio clip in the statement, which it says clearly proves the clip shared by the opposition party leader to be fake.
Calling itself a “strong supporter” of freedom of speech, PTR said it had not responded to many allegations but was forced to do so this time. “I am therefore compelled to respond at this juncture as a social media post has now been replicated and amplified by unscrupulous political players,” PTR said in the statement
He said, “With the ability to fabricate or machine clip using readily available advanced technology, we should not be surprised to see more audio and even video clips with more malicious content in the future.” He said that if the limit of “defamation” was crossed, “I will be forced to take action.”
PTR gave credit to Stalin for what he did in public life. He said that “any malicious attempt to divide us will never succeed.”
