Hyderabad, June 14 -- Senior Congress leader and Telangana government advisor Mohammed Ali Shabbir on Sunday, June 14, called a viral audio clip in which he allegedly makes derogatory remarks against party colleagues "fake, doctored and politically motivated," and vowed criminal defamation action against all those responsible for its circulation.

Telangana Pradesh Congress Committee (TPCC) president B Mahesh Kumar Goud confirmed on Saturday, June 13, that a show-cause notice had been issued to Shabbir Ali over the clip, which surfaced online on June 12.

The audio and what it alleges

The purported recording, believed to be roughly a year old, captures a conversation between Shabbir Ali and a local party functionary from Kamareddy. In it...