The video recordings have several unusual features besides having a heavy- hitter guest list including politicians such as former Bihar chief minister Laloo Prasad Yadav, former Union minister of state for home Maqbool Dhar, several Ministers in the Uttar Pradesh Government, corporate bigwigs including Reliance group director S.V. Balasubramanium and a host of yet-to-be identified guests being clubbed together by investigators as ``senior income tax, customs and Union Territory cadre officials.''

In the tapes viewed by this correspondent, the host appears to have issued clear directions that the camera should focus on him. So you have clips of him welcoming guests at the entrance to the Chattarpur farmhouse, with several falling at his feet and Sharma urging them to go and ``feel comfortable ji and use the jaacuji (sic)'' (feel comfortable and use the jacuzzi).''

Sharma periodically looks the camera squarely in the lens and announces a particularly important guest aab desh ke neta Laloo Prasadji Yadav aa rahe hai (now the leader of the nation Laloo is coming) before scurrying off after him. Laloo's daughters also pop up on screen, and immediately on cue Sharma announces: Yeh hai kumari Misa or Kursi aggey ki Bhavi Pradhan mantri (this is Miss Misa and Kursi Yadav -- future Prime Ministers of the country).

Laloo and the lesser VIPs of his family feature in four tapes and in one 1994 recording, Laloo is seen hugging a beaming Sharma and calling him his chota bhai (younger brother). At one party hosted last year, Chief Minister Rabri Devi's brother Sadhu Yadav is also present as part of the entourage for Laloo's daughter Misa.

Investigators in possession of the tapes, however, point out merely attending a party organised by Sharma is in no way incriminating for Romesh Sharma's many guests but that the tapes were useful corroborative evidence, for instance, while probing individual financial links that some invitees had with Sharma.

Says a senior official: ``We are only going to question those people with whom a clear beneficiary relationship emerges and who also figure prominently in the tapes.''

Sharma's Reliance connection through its group President S V Balasubramamiun is evident since he is present in at least eight parties. Authorities who have seized the tapes from Romesh's Mayfair Garden house believe that copies of the same tapes have been recovered in the raids conducted at Balasubramanium's residence.

The other well-known guest at a swank party hosted by Romesh Sharma in November 1992 is Chandraswami, seen blessing all and sundry. Incidentally, according to Sharma who makes a reference while serving ``Swamiji'' his dinner, both happen to be vegetarians. Sharma tells Chandraswami while giving him a plate yeh sab satvik khana hai (this is vegetarian food) The tapes reveal Sharma's penchant for serving barbecued food and adding that much-needed ambience with mujra dancers which provided the leitmotif for his convivial evenings. He is often seen in the tapes donning a chef's hat and personally serving a particularly favored guest a choice morsel of meat.

Then he is seen bragging about the liquor and insisting yeh saab bahar ka maal hai (all this is imported). Sharma periodically tells the camera thodi hi der me PM ayage (the PM will come in a little while). It is unclear which PM he is talking about since no Prime Minister who has held office in the past five years makes an appearance.

Sharma and his cronies in the party tapes call each other ``the cabinet'' with his chelas (disciples) addressing him at various times as bade bhai, ``brother'' and simply, ``the Prime Minister''. These seem to be shots taken at the fag end of the parties and Sharma is at ease among just his cronies.