New Delhi:
The slap came without a preamble. It just landed. As far as landings go, it wasn’t very neat, the greater impact was felt near the ear and the neck, but electric enough to jolt the recipient immersed in recording the man in front: his attacker and Delhi BJP Minister Parvesh Verma, 48, who famously defeated Arvind Kejriwal in the Delhi polls.
The 22-year-old bespectacled victim, Sahib Singh, was not even the protagonist or the villain in the chain of events unfolding on Sunday afternoon in Tilak Nagar in West Delhi. But he now is a political cause celebre. Do not shoot the messenger, they say, Parvesh Verma, his alleged tormentor, possibly missed the memo.
Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma seen slapping an AAP MLA’s assistant during a road inspection in Tilak Nagar
A little backstory will help piece things together.
Read | “AAP Worker Abused My Family”: Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma On Slap Row
The dramatis personae in the now infamous Sunday slapgate are Parvesh Verma, AAP’s Tilak Nagar MLA Jarnail Singh and victim Sahib Singh, who handles social media for the AAP MLA.
Things began on a friendly note: with smiles and a customary handshake between the Minister and the AAP MLA.
Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma (in white kurta) seen shaking hands with AAP MLA Jarnail Singh
Parvesh Verma, the Public Works Department Minister, said he was returning from a programme in Rohini and decided to stop by for a road inspection in the area.
“Ye bada jaroori tha aapki nazar main lana ye kaam (It was very important to bring this matter to your attention),” Jarnail Singh said.
“To ye road ke upar main kya kami hai ye batao (So, tell me, what is lacking in this road?) “the Minister asked, adding, “To aap jo haath se utha rahe the woh ek baar dikhao (So, show me once what you were picking up with your hand).”
The Minister was referring to earlier videos by Jarnail Singh where he peels off road layers, suggesting shoddy work and alleging corruption. In one of the videos from Outer Ring Road in Tilak Nagar, Jarnail Singh pointed out that a road thickness should be 70mm but here it is not even 20 mm and shows the same against a measuring scale.
दिल्ली की मुख्यमंत्री को खुला चैलेंज!
अगर दम है तो इस सड़क का
सैंपल उठावाइए, लैब में जांच कराइए और रिपोर्ट सार्वजनिक कीजिए।#OpenChallenge #DelhiPWD #RoadQuality #QualityCheck #PublicAccountability@arvindkejriwal @aamaadmiparty @aapdelhi@gupta_rekha @kjsehrawat… pic.twitter.com/kN89yNZKT5— Jarnail Singh (@JarnailSinghAAP) September 25, 2026
“Aao ji aao, idhar aao (Come here, come here),” the AAP MLA played along.
“Ye wala ukhad ke dikhao (Show me how to pull this one out), the Minister said.
Jarnail Singh bent down, his knee on the fresh asphalt, which appeared to be a thin veneer, and began attacking the freshly paved road with his bare hands. Loose gravel came off the edges.
“Aur kya chahiye, ye lo, ye lo. Hadd ho gayi, ye sadak hoti hai (What else do you need? Here, take this, take this. This is too much – is this even a road?)” Jarnail Singh said.
Jarnail Singh bent down to pull at the road edges with the Minister watching the proceedings
The AAP MLA, at this point, was not able to rip out the asphalt.
“Road toh ukhad ke dikhao (Just try tearing up the road),” the Minister insisted.
The video cuts abruptly at this point and the protagonists move to another portion of the same road.
The AAP MLA pulled at the road like one peels off a ribbon and the freshly paved road came off effortlessly.
“Ye lo, mantri ji aap humse poocho, bura manne ki baat nahi hai isme. Ye BJP ki Sarkar main ho raha hai kaam. Hamari video delete karwa rahe ho (Here, Minister. There is nothing to feel bad about. This work is being done under the BJP government. You are getting our videos deleted),” the AAP MLA said, showing off the big chunks off road in his hands.
Jarnail Singh seen ripping out the freshly paved road
“Aapne jo sadak boli woh ukhad ke dikha di, ab batao (You challenged me to tear up that road, and I did it. Now what do you have to say?) Jarnail Singh asked the Minister.
AAP MLA Jarnail Singh shows off the ripped out asphalt to the Delhi Minister
Jarnail Singh presents the pulled out road chunks to Parvesh Verma
“Galat nahi bolna (Do not speak wrongly),” the Minister, with his arm around the AAP MLA, said.
“Kya galat bol diya (What did I say wrong?) the AAP MLA shot back.
“Bilkul galat bola. Aapne 15 saal main sadak nahi banayi, ab hum bana rahe hain (That is completely wrong. You didn’t build the road in 15 years; now we are building it),” the Minister said.
“Aise mat banao na, ye toh 15 ghante nahi chalegi (Don’t make it like that; it won’t even last 15 hours),” the AAP MLA persisted.
At this point,the Minister turned around to leave.
“Naraaz phupha ban ke aa rahe hain (He is coming over acting like an offended uncle-in-law),” someone is heard saying on the video, inverting the BJP’s jab at the Opposition.
The AAP MLA, with big chunks of road, like cake slices but black in colour, followed the Minister to his car.
Parvesh verma exposed ‼️
Yesterday’s full sequence, step by step:
Minister Called me for Road Inspection → Road quality questioned in front of Minister → Road layer came off when I inspected by hand → heated exchange with Minister→ my colleague was allegedly slapped while… pic.twitter.com/56EhQdcSyZ
— Jarnail Singh (@JarnailSinghAAP) September 28, 2026
“Mantri ji, mera haath jod ke nivedan hai, aapne phone kiya, aapke ek phone pe main aaya, aapne bola sadak ukhad ke dikhao, ye sadak mere haath main hai (Minister, I earnestly request you – you called, and I came at your one phone call; you asked me to tear up the road,so the road is right here in my hands),” Jarnail Singh said.
It is here that things escalated. And Sahib Singh, the victim, enters the scene.
Video: Delhi Minister Parvesh Verma Loses Cool, Slaps Man Filming Inspection
Walking away, the Minister, with his left hand, pulls down the young man’s mobile while he was recording him, and with his right, which was covered in sacred thread, lands a slap right across his face, the video showed.
The scenes right after Parvesh Verma slapped Sahib Singh, AAP MLA’s assistant
A fight breaks out, but by then a security guard inserts himself between the two, the video shows, with a small crowd around them.
A security guard intervenes after Delhi Minister slaps AAP MLA’s assistant
“Are maar diya thappad, bhai. Bhai, thappad mar diya ji. Ye lo ji, video banate hue thappad mar diya (Oh, he slapped him, man. Man, he actually slapped him. Look at that – he slapped him while the video was being recorded),” a person, who is not visible, is heard saying on the video.
In his defence, the Delhi minister said his family members were abused by the AAP MLA’s assistant and he reacted to it.
आज की घटना के पीछे की पूरी सच्चाई सुनिए…लेकिन जो हुआ वो नहीं होना चाहिए था । pic.twitter.com/qWnMkPQtnJ
— Parvesh Sahib Singh (@p_sahibsingh) September 27, 2026
“Jarnail Singh arrived with his workers and immediately started misbehaving. One of his workers began hurling abuses at my family right upon arrival. In that moment of anger, anyone would react the same way I did,” Verma said.
The Minister later said he would not tolerate what he described as attempts by AAP workers to obstruct government officials from carrying out their duties. He also alleged that Sahib Singh was associated with the AAP and had a previous case against him.
Verma further said that, for perhaps the first time in Delhi, a minister had gone to the ground after receiving a complaint from an opposition MLA, reached the site and attempted to address the issue on the spot.
The video shows the victim looking into his mobile phone and recording when the slap landed on him.
“I was live-streaming on the MLA’s page. To stop the ongoing live stream, Parvesh Verma snatched the phone from my hand, raised his hand at me and slapped me. His security personnel also pushed me and raised his hand at me. I did not say or do anything to him. I had not done anything that would make him hit me,” the victim said.
Delhi Police on Monday filed a non-cognisable report (NCR) against Verma over the slapping incident, while an FIR has been registered against AAP MLA Jarnail Singh for allegedly obstructing public servants in the discharge of their duty, officials said.
Arvind Kejriwal, the AAP chief, has called for Verma’s arrest.
This is not the first such incident for Parvesh Verma.
In 2022, he was seen in a video shouting at a Delhi Jal Board officer during his inspection of a Yamuna Ghat ahead of the Chhath festival. A complaint was filed against him for allegedly misbehaving with the official and obstructing government work during the cleaning of the river.
“He intimidated and threatened me and used very foul language and also misbehaved with me,” Sanjay Sharma, director of treatment quality control at Delhi Jal Board, said in his complaint against Parvesh Verma.
A day after the slap, Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, Parvesh Verma’s boss, hosted a ‘Chai Pe Charcha’ with her ministers. Parvesh Verma was present at the event. There has been no word from the Chief Minister on the row.
