Maharashtra Wednesday said it would seek legal opinion to ascertain if a criminal case could be filed on the basis of a recorded telephonic conversation between Salman Khan and Aishwarya Rai in which he spoke of his links with the underworld.

Making a statement on the explosive revelations in the state assembly, Home Minister R.R. Patil said that actor's phone had been tapped by the police between August 28, 2001 and October 25, 2001 and the local police would now explore a legal roadmap to pursue the case.

"It was after receiving intelligence information that someone was in touch with Salem from a particular number that the phone was placed under observation. It was found that the phone belonged to Salman," Patil told a stunned assembly. The voice samples of Salman and Aishwarya have already been sent to a forensic lab at Chandigarh for verifying the authenticity of the tape, said Patil.

He added that a team of two senior police officials has been constituted to look into all aspects of the case that triggered uproarious scenes in the assembly for two consecutive days last week.

An English daily had last Thursday published transcripts of the alleged phone conversation between Salman and Aishwarya that were recorded Aug 28-31, 2001.

According to the daily, Salman began calling up Aishwarya just before her departure to the US on a 50-day tour.

During the conversation, he reportedly threatened Aishwarya with dire consequences if she didn't perform for underworld don Abu Salem's show, the daily said.

He also reportedly admitted his links with Dawood Ibrahim and Guru Satam.