A Gurgaon court on Monday granted regular bail to Pankaj Yadav, the third accused arrested in connection with a case of alleged fabrication of forensic reports concerning a purported “objectionable” video of Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann. Mann had claimed that the individual seen in the said video was not him. Yadav is the proprietor of Cyber Yaan, a training centre in Delhi’s Tilak Nagar, one of the labs allegedly used to prepare a report showing the video in question was AI-generated. All three men arrested by the Haryana Police in the case so far, including Yadav, are currently out on bail. The FIR in the case was registered on June 23 at Gurgaon Sector 29 police station based on a complaint filed by one Jaspreet Singh, a digital forensics worker from Sirsa. He alleged that he was summoned on June 15 and 16 to Hotel Crowne Plaza in Gurgaon, where two senior Punjab Police officers “pressured” him and forcibly handed him Rs 10 lakh to obtain tailored forensic reports stating that the video was AI-generated, manipulated, and did not feature the Punjab Chief Minister. The Gurgaon police, however, are yet to summon or question the two senior officers who were also allegedly spotted in footage from the hotel’s CCTV camera. Additional Sessions Judge Sudeep Goel, while granting bail to Yadav (35), held that the police had invoked the stringent provisions related to organised crime under Section 111 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita without foundational evidence. Criticising the prosecution’s approach, the court observed: “Without legally admissible accusations, allegations, or evidence, the State cannot arrest a suspect to fish evidence against them or use such a suspect as custodial bait by any hook, line, and sinker to bring the case into the fold of S. 111 of BNS.” The judge further remarked: “Without legally admissible prima facie evidence, the State cannot make any suspect undergo custodial interrogation to hunt for such evidence against the suspect or others. The evidence must be gathered first to make out a prima facie case within the scope of S. 111 of BNS, and such evidence alone would justify custodial interrogation to carry out further investigation.” The Indian Express earlier reported that investigators had gathered substantial technical evidence, including CCTV footage from the hotel, guest stay logs, food and beverage bills, and an alleged money trail linking the two senior Punjab Police officers — a Deputy Inspector General and a Superintendent of Police (SP) — one of whom was addressed as “bade sahib” in the complaint. ‘Clean’ antecedents, awaited FSL report Haryana Police had arrested cyber experts Ankit and Arun Mahendru on June 23, and Yadav on June 29 after seizing mobile phones and documents linked to Cyber Yaan Training and Consultancy, a firm registered in the name of Yadav’s wife and cousin. Ankit was granted bail on July 30, while Mahendru secured bail on August 10. While hearing Yadav’s application, the prosecution conceded that the accused had clean criminal antecedents with no prior chargesheets or pending cases. “At this stage, there is no prima-facie legally admissible evidence collected so far to make out an offence against the petitioner punishable under Section 111 [organised crime] of BNS,” the court noted. Addressing the forgery allegations, the judge noted that the forensic analysis of seized electronic devices remains pending. “Until and unless the report is received it cannot be said that the report prepared by accused is forged,” it said. The court admitted Yadav to regular bail on a personal bond of Rs 1 lakh with one surety of the like amount, directing him to surrender his passport and refrain from contacting witnesses in the case.
