CCTV, Cash and a Cover-Up: How Punjab’s Viral Video Row Landed in a Gurugram Five-Star Hotel

New CCTV footage and WhatsApp chats purportedly show senior Punjab Police officers meeting with forensic experts at Crown Plaza hotel to engineer a favourable deepfake report on a video linked to Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann — as Gurugram Police arrest two men and a whistleblower fears for his life

By NewsArc Bureau

CHANDIGARH/GURUGRAM, June 24 — The controversy surrounding a viral video allegedly featuring Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has taken a dramatic new turn, with the emergence of CCTV footage and WhatsApp chats purportedly placing senior Punjab Police officers at a five-star hotel in Gurugram where a forensic report on the video is alleged to have been tailored to suit the Chief Minister’s defence.

Gurugram Police have registered an FIR and arrested two individuals — Ankit from Jind and Arun Mahendru from Sirsa — in connection with the alleged fabrication of a cyber forensic report. The FIR, registered at the DLF Police Station, details a conspiracy involving criminal charges of cheating and the illicit fabrication of electronic records, with the investigation centring on allegations that employees of two private facilities — Cipher Sentinel Lab and Cyberyan Labs — were coerced into producing a predetermined report to exonerate the Chief Minister.

The Gurugram Hotel Meeting

Fresh CCTV footage from Crown Plaza, a five-star hotel in Gurugram, purportedly shows five individuals in a meeting on the morning of June 16. Among those visible, claims are being made that two are the principal accused in the case, one is the complainant, and two are senior Punjab Police officers — identified as Ludhiana Police Commissioner Swapan Sharma and SP Jashandeep Gill. Additionally, hotel bills released by Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Majithia purportedly show that rooms at the hotel were booked between June 15 and 17 in the names of both officers, with Sharma reportedly shifting rooms on June 17. WhatsApp chats linked to a contact saved as “SP Jashan Gill Punjab” have also surfaced, allegedly showing instructions to delete a paragraph from page three of a report, add tools used in the analysis, alter the technical observations section, and strengthen the conclusion. Neither the CCTV footage, the hotel bills, nor the WhatsApp chats have been independently verified by this publication.

The Whistleblower’s Account

Forensic expert and complainant Jaspreet Singh of Sirsa has released a video statement laying out his version of events in detail. He said that on June 15 he received an anonymous WhatsApp call from a man who identified himself as a Punjab Police SP, seeking a forensic report on the viral video linked to the Chief Minister. Singh said he declined, clarifying that his expertise was in handwriting and document forensics, not digital audio-video analysis.

According to the FIR, Singh was subsequently pressured to travel to Crown Plaza hotel in Gurugram, where individuals claiming to be senior Punjab officials and a high-ranking officer pressed him to produce a report. When Singh indicated that the video material was of insufficient quality to scientifically establish that it was a deepfake, severe threats were allegedly made against his family, and Rs 10 lakh in cash was allegedly forced into his vehicle to secure a tailored clean chit.

Singh further alleged that pen drives containing the video were later routed through him to cyber security experts, whose preliminary reports were then amended by officials before being finalised. He said he had been explicitly assured that the report would not be made public — a promise he claims was broken when the Punjab government cited the findings officially. In his video statement, Singh said he now fears for his life and that of his family, and has demanded immediate police protection.

Mann Hits Back; Political Temperatures Rise

Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann has categorically denied any wrongdoing and went on the offensive at a press conference, accusing the BJP and the Shiromani Akali Dal of orchestrating a politically motivated campaign against him. He asserted that laboratory owners who conducted forensic tests on the video had been intimidated with threats of FIRs by the BJP to make them retract their findings or claim they were offered money to alter reports. Mann maintained that the video does not match his physical profile and that forensic examination across 1,191 frames confirmed this.

The video first surfaced in October 2025 after being released by Canada-based NRI Jagman Samra, who hails from Mann’s home district of Sangrur. On June 15, the Akal Takht, the highest temporal seat of the Sikhs, declared Chief Minister Mann “Guru Dokhi” and “Panth Virodhi,” citing forensic analyses from two laboratories that reportedly concluded the viral video was authentic, untampered, and showed no signs of AI manipulation.

The BJP has demanded immediate action against Mann, accusing him of insulting Sikh sentiments and attempting to undermine the authority of the Akal Takht. The party’s national leadership described the arrests as proof of a state-sponsored conspiracy to forge forensic evidence, and questioned the silence of AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal on the matter.

A Crisis With No Clear Resolution

With competing forensic reports, arrested accused, a whistleblower fearing for his safety, unverified CCTV footage, and the Akal Takht’s censure still standing, the controversy shows no signs of abating. Punjab Finance Minister Harpal Singh Cheema has maintained that the government-commissioned assessment identified discrepancies in height, side profile, and body structure that conclusively rule out the Chief Minister’s presence in the video.

For now, the battle over the viral video — and who manipulated what — is being fought simultaneously in courts, press conferences, and the court of public opinion.