The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on 3 September sharply escalated its offensive against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab, presenting audio recordings it claims capture middlemen allegedly linked to the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) discussing the withdrawal of rape cases for money. The BJP alleged that Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and his wife Dr Gurpreet Kaur Mann are accused of demanding bribes of ₹5 crore through intermediaries to get rape cases diluted or dropped.

Key Allegations and Audio Claims

Addressing a press conference at BJP headquarters in New Delhi, party spokesperson Pradeep Bhandari played out the audio clips, claiming that middlemen could be heard discussing a rape case with a relative of the accused while purportedly invoking references and assurances on behalf of the Chief Minister. A second recording, he claimed, referred to an amount allegedly being 'fixed', while a third allegedly captured discussions about distributing money among several individuals.

Bhandari pointed specifically to the case of an arrested individual identified as Gurvinder Chahal, demanding a probe by a central investigative agency and accountability for what he termed a 'loot syndicate'.

BJP's Demand for Answers

The BJP spokesperson demanded that CM Bhagwant Mann and AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal publicly respond to the allegations, asking whether rape cases in Punjab were being absorbed into what he called the 'AAP's loot model'. Bhandari said the continued silence of both leaders was 'only adding to the suspicion' and amounted to an 'admission of guilt' — a characterisation the AAP government had not responded to at the time of reporting.

'Bhagwant Mann and Arvind Kejriwal must answer whether they are running a corruption and loot syndicate, just like the Sheesh Mahal syndicate in Delhi,' Bhandari said. 'This is AAP's new loot syndicate, in which allegations are that for withdrawing rape cases, the Chief Minister's office is taking money and doing deals.'

NHRC Involvement

Bhandari also cited the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), stating that the rights body has already written to the Chief Secretary of Punjab and the Punjab Director General of Police (DGP) in connection with the matter. The NHRC's intervention lends institutional weight to the controversy, though the full scope of its findings was not detailed at the press conference.

Context and Broader Pattern

This comes amid a sustained BJP campaign against AAP-governed states ahead of upcoming political cycles. The party has repeatedly drawn parallels between what it describes as governance failures in Delhi and Punjab, framing both under a single 'loot model' narrative. Notably, the AAP government in Punjab has not issued a formal rebuttal to the specific audio evidence presented by the BJP as of this report. All allegations remain unverified independently, and the audio clips have not been authenticated by any official agency. NationPress has not independently verified the recordings.