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behaviour of the assassin in the completion of the alleged crime; use of the weapons, i.e., one being .45 revolver and the other three being .38 bore revolver. The conversation on the telephone having been recorded, PW-17 noted the date and time of the cassette. He took the cassette to the senior officer, D.C.P. Kamlakar, PW-42. On receipt of cassette, D.C.P. Kamlakar played the cassette and heard the details about the conspiracy.

This print out also confirms that there was a telephone conversation at 5.55 p.m. on 28th January, 2004 of about 9.15 minutes. The number mentioned there was that of the appellant.

14. We may now briefly notice the further facts as brought on record by the prosecution. On 15th January, 2005, PW-41, A.C.P. Vinayak Kadam asked PW-42, D.C.P. (Detection), Mr. Kamlakar as to whether he had intercepted any communication on telephone number 0060133402008. On 17th January, 2005, Mr. Kamlakar, D.C.P. (Detection), PW-42 asked P.S.I. Dalvi, PW-17 to handover the sealed cassette to A.C.P. Kadam on 18th January, 2005. The sealed cassettes were duly handed over to A.C.P. Kadam on 18th January, 2005. A.C.P Kadam was aware that A.C.P. Tejasingh Chavan, PW-18 had arrested absconding accused Bharat Nepali on 11th February, 1997. He was also aware that Jagdish Kulkarni, PW-19 had earlier arrested the appellant on 2nd March, 2002. The Cassette was, therefore, duly played in the presence of Panchas and the aforesaid police officers. In this manner, the voice test identification was stated to have been conducted. The voice was also said to have been identified as belonging to the appellant and to absconding accused Bharat Nepali by PW-18, ACP Tejasingh Chavan and PW-19, Jagdish Kulkarni. It is also the case of the prosecution that A.P.I. Raut, who was Investigating Officer, identified the voice of A2, Vishwanath Jadhav. A.P.I. Pasalwar, PW-38, is stated to have identified the voice of accused Vinod (A1). The Panchnama was duly prepared.

(5) The recorded cassette must be carefully sealed and kept in safe or official custody.

(6) The voice of the speaker should be clearly audible and not lost or distorted by other sounds or disturbances."

In Ram Singh's case (supra), this Court also notices with approval the observations made by the Court of 5 1985 (Supp) SCC 611 Appeal in England in the case of R. Vs. Maqsud Ali6 . In the aforesaid case, Marshall, J. observed thus:-

38. This apart, the High Court erroneously overlooked the infirmities in the evidence with regard to the authenticity of the tape recording produced in Court. The conversation between the appellant and Bharat Nepali was said to have been recorded on 28th October, 2004 by PW-17, P.S.I. Vijay Dalvi.

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According to him, although, he had been monitoring the Malaysian number of Bharat Nepali from 1st October, 2004 till 27th October, 2004, he had heard no incoming or outgoing calls. The incriminating conversation was said to have been recorded on 28th October, 2004. This conversation was relayed to a police telephone and recorded. He put a slip on the recorded cassette indicating the date and time of the conversation as recorded. He then handed the tape over to the D.C.P., Dhananjay Kamlakar. He heard the tape on the same day. Even though the conversation revealed a conspiracy for commission of a serious offence, like murder of an influential personality in Mumbai city, he took no further action. He just sealed the tape and kept it in his personal custody.