NEW DELHI: Three of the seven videos submitted by the Delhi government for forensic examination from the Jawaharlal Nehru University campus have been found to be doctored. This was confirmed to The Citizen by top government sources, with the District Magistrate’s report expected to be released within the next 48 hours.

The doctored videos were played repeatedly by some television channels with anchors asking for JNU Students Union President Kanhaiya’s head in the first days of the police action on the campus. The question now arises: who gave the doctored versions to the television channels? Who were their sources? And of course who doctored the tapes?

Sources said that the JNU gate security has logged the presence of Zee News at the campus when the meeting on Afzal Guru was held. Zee News carried out a strong campaign against JNU, along with two other TV channels namely Times Now and News X who all ran the tapes.

It is reliably learnt that the DM has written to Zee News asking for the source of the doctored tapes, and for the raw footage of the video recording of the function. The interim report is expected to be released soon, although investigation for the final report will continue.

The confirmation that videos had been doctored was made after the Delhi government sent seven videos for testing to Truth Lab in Hyderabad. Aam Aadmi Party leader Ashutosh confirmed this to The Citizen saying that while he did not have specific information, the visuals and audio of the said videos were found to have been doctored. However, he did not have further information on this issue.

It is also learnt by The Citizen that the security guards’ version that the Delhi police was relying on to corroborate their charge of sedition have not stood by the purported statements. When the news of the first morphed video broke, the Police that had allegedly accepted this as evidence for the arrest of Kanhaiya, admitted that it did not have video corroboration of him shouting anti-India slogans to the Delhi High Court.

The police, however, continued to insist that they had statements from eyewitnesses instead.

However, it is learnt that the said eyewitnesses, one of them a JNU security guard, has made it clear that while they saw Kanhaiya at the meeting they did not hear him shouting anti-India slogans. Instead the guard said, that he saw Kanhaiya Kumar actually trying to assuage the students and stop sloganeering.

Interestingly the Press Trust of India has carried a report five days ago that the security guard, Amarjeet Kaur,had in a sting operation by a TV channel admitted that he had not seen or heard the JNUSU president raising anti India slogans. He said that about 10-15 outsiders were present at the meeting. A second person who identified himself as Delhi Police head constable Rambir could be seen saying that he was present at the event in plain clothes. He also claimed that Kanhiaya Kumarwas present in the crowd but he did not raise any slogans.

In the statement attached with the FIR in the case, registered on the basis of a video footage obtained from the Hindi newschannel, police had mentioned names of Rambir and two other constables who were present at the spot in plain clothes and had witnessed the event.

Top TV anchors had run the footage---now confirmed to be doctored--- to mount an almost vicious campaign demanding action against the young students arrested by the police for reportedly ‘seditious’ activities in the campus. Senior editors anchoring the prime time programs on these channels shouting and screamed against the students, initially Kanhaiya Kumar as an “anti-national” in a campaign that has drawn tremendous flak, but initially caused great worry and fear amongst the families and friends of the young students. There has not been a word of apology from any of the channels whose role in the entire controversy has raised serious questions about the ethical, independent and honest journalism.