Gurugram Police have apprehended two suspects for allegedly fabricating a forensic report in a viral video case linked to the Punjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, according to Gurugram Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Crime, Naveen Sharma. Police officials stated that the accused allegedly received ₹10 lakh from Punjab officials to fabricate the document. ACP Sharma told reporters that the police had acted on a complaint and taken two individuals into custody for questioning. One suspect has been identified as Ankit, a cyber-expert working with the National Investigation Agency (NIA) on a contractual basis, while the other is named Arun.
According to the police, the complaint relates to a fraudulent video and report they had created and circulated. The suspects did not operate from any government-recognised laboratory but instead fabricated the material featuring the Chief Minister of the neighbouring state. ACP Sharma added that the suspects claimed they were paid ₹10 lakh for the task and indicated that certain officials from Punjab were also involved. He noted that further details emerging from the ongoing investigation would be verified with forensic experts.
The arrests come after the Akal Takht summoned Bhagwant Mann over the viral video, which allegedly showed disrespect to the Sikh Gurus. Mann has strongly dismissed the footage as a "well-planned conspiracy" designed to defame him, maintaining that the individual in the controversial video is not him.
The Punjab Chief Minister explained that the person appearing in the footage is actually an actor who bears a resemblance to him. He emphasised that the Director General of Police (DGP) had been instructed to identify and arrest those behind the plot. With help of a video message, Mann claimed that after conducting forensic tests on 1,191 frames of the video, none of those frames was identified to resemble him. Mann threatened that the culprits will be found and punished, no matter how well they hide themselves.
On the other hand, Akal Takht headed by acting Jathedar Giani Kuldeep Singh Gargaj has ordered Sikhs to boycott Mann as a result of the controversy created by the video while investigations continue regarding its forgery.
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