Its seems Narendra Modi, for a change, has the last laugh this time around. The controversy over a letter sent, claimed to have been signed by as many as 65 MPs, and sent to US president Barack Obama urging him to deny a visa to the Gujarat chief minister, took a new twist Sunday with a California-based forensic document examiner claiming that the signatures in the letter are "original and authentic" and not a "cut-and-paste job" as alleged by some of the MPs.

 

"It is my opinion that the document was created in a single event, and that the signatures found on it are original/authentic wet ink signatures," said the report by Nanette Barto, who claims to be a ‘court-qualified forensic document examiner’. 

 

The report was prepared at the request of Coalition Against Genocide, campaigning against Modi, after some MPs like Sitaram Yechury (CPM), MP Achuthan (CPI) and KP Ramalingam of DMK denied having signed the letter. "It proves the document is authentic, without any 'cut and paste' operation," said Raja Swamy of Coalition Against Genocide. 

 

However, some MPs maintained that they had not signed the letter. While Yechury, who is in Pyongyang, could not be reached for comment, Achuthan said, "I don't remember having signed any such letter…"  "It is all humbug. The signature is not mine," said DMK’s Ramalingam.  "The signature is mine. But it seems they used a paper of my signature given for some other representation," said NCP member Ishwarlal Shankarlal Jain.