On 12th December (Friday), the Aam Aadmi Party government of Punjab filed a First Information Report (FIR) against social activist Manik Goyal, journalists Mintu Gurusaria and Manindejit Sidhu of Lok Awaz TV, alongside Gagan Ramgarhia, Harman Farmer, Mandeep Makkar, Gurlal S Maan, Arjan, Snammu Dhaliwal and Deep Mangli, claiming the dissemination of “objectionable posts.”
Manik Goyal took to social media to inform about the development and informed that the complaint arose from their inquiries regarding the employment of government helicopters during the Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann’s absence. “For 4 years, they’ve refused to share RTI data on helicopter & Aeroplane usage and expenditure. Now, when we raise legitimate questions on social media, they slap FIRs on journalists and activists,” he further conveyed.
AAP govt has filed an FIR against Me, Journalist Mintoo Gurusaria, Manindejit Sidhu (@LokAwazTv ) and others just for asking questions about the use of government helicopters during CM @BhagwantMann absence.
— Manik Goyal (@ManikGoyal_) January 1, 2026
For 4 years, they've refused to share RTI data on helicopter &… pic.twitter.com/lDmUCFqVpx
“Is this the democracy we voted for, Arvind Kejriwal and Bhagwant Mann? Was this the Badlaav (change) you promised, silencing voices instead of answering questions,” Goyal challenged.
What’s inside the FIR
The official complaint read, “A preliminary examination of the uploaded contents reveals that it comprises distorted, unverified, and patently incorrect assertions pertaining to the deployment and utilisation of a helicopter allegedly associated with the Chief Minister of Punjab. The content is predicated upon erroneous interpretation of flight-tracking data, selective presentation of extraneous visuals, and insinuatory remarks bereft of factual foundation, thereby constructing a false, misleading, and deliberately fabricated narrative.”
The FIR charged that the aforementioned posts aim to create the appearance that the chopper was purportedly involved in unauthorised or questionable actions while Bhagwant Singh Mann was on an official foreign tour. It insisted that these accusations are obviously unfounded and directly conflict with official documents. The FIR asserted that the aforementioned helicopter was utilised by a person holding a constitutional office who was properly permitted and empowered to utilise the aircraft for official purposes on the relevant dates, according to the Punjab Civil Aviation Department.
It declared, “By willfully disregarding verified governmental information and disseminating concocted interpretations, the uploader has engaged in the deliberate propagation of misinformation and disinformation with the malafide intent to mislead the public, generate unwarranted apprehension, and malign the functioning of constitutional authorities. Such conduct is capable of eroding public confidence, impeding official duties, disrupting governmental functioning, and fomenting unnecessary public speculation.”
According to the FIR, the broad distribution of this false information also poses a serious risk of compromising institutional integrity, causing social division, and igniting the spread of more unverified narratives, all of which could have an impact on public order and administrative harmony in the critical border state of Punjab. “The genuineness, accuracy, and provenance of the impugned content shall be comprehensively examined during the investigation,” it added.
URL links to their allegedly inappropriate content have also been included in the FIR as sections 353(1), 353(2), and 61(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) have been invoked against them by the cybercrime police station, Ludhiana. Satbir Singh has been named as the complainant/informant in the matter.
