The BJP group leader in Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Gopinath Munde on Tuesday said the Mumbai police was trying to protect its ‘image' by ‘dilly-dallying' on the issue of purported conversation between actor Salman Khan and actress Aishwarya Rai.

"The police claim that they are not aware of the existence of the tapes of the tapped phone conversation between Salman and Aishwarya is just an attempt to protect their image", Munde told the Lower House, brandishing a compact disk containing the purported conversation.

Munde said he had lost ‘faith' in the Mumbai police and demanded that the government set up a Special Task Force (STF) to probe the issue and hand over the inquiry to state CID.

He said, "although the police claim that they are not aware of the tapes, it is my belief that the tapes were handed to the media by the police themselves."

"The CD I have with me is of 29 minutes duration. It has voice of Salman claiming that he had links with underworld dons Chhota Shakeel, Guru Satam and Abu Salem. He even mentions Dawood Ibrahim as his brother and also speaks about his being aware of the 1993 Mumbai serial blasts conspiracy", Munde told the House, before handing over the CD to the speaker.

"I am handing over the tapes because tomorrow, when the government makes a statement on the issue in the Assembly, they should not say that we don't have the tapes," Munde said.

"Mumbai police was once compared to Scotland Yard. Now they are searching excuses to avoid embarrassment on the tapes issue," Munde, who handled the Home portfolio during the Sena-BJP government in the state during 1995-99, said.

"If the police do not have the tapes, then with what they are going to compare the voice samples of Salman and Rai they have taken", Munde asked.

The speaker Babasaheb Kupekar said the government has already stated that it would make a statement on the issue in the House on Wednesday.