In a latter written to Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, Advani has said that "in any such investigation by a media organisation, the investigated material does not become the private property of the investigator."
The Lok Sabha Speaker had yesterday appointed a parliamentary committee to probe the matter, the committee has eight members and is led by Congress MP Kishore Chandra Deo.
He argues instead that "it is held in trust for the public of India and the information its contents must be shared both with the people at large as well as with the whistle-blowers (in this case, the three MPs), without whose permission and cooperation the channel could not have conducted the investigation."
"The channel had assured the whistle-blowers that the recorded tape would be telecast "soon". However, this was not done. In any democracy, it would be the grossest impropriety if the whistle-blowers are let down by the media organisation that conducted the investigation," he said.
Giving a detailed description of events leading to the afternoon of July 22nd, Advani said that "soon after our three MPs had displayed in Parliament the currency notes they had received as a token amount from one of the UPA leaders for abstention from the trust vote on July 22, the channel had announced that it was in possession of the tape and had handed it over to the Speaker."
"However, I learnt later that the tape was actually delivered to your office the following day, after a lapse of over 24 hours. Although the channel has stated that it retains a copy of the tape and reserves the right to telecast at a future date, the long delay between the recording of the tape and its telecast (if and when it happens) would naturally raise grave doubts as to whether the tape is authentic or doctored," he added.
He demanded that the tape be made public, and also shown to the three MPs concerned. He added that a full and transparent inquiry be ordered into the incident.
