Multiple users shared an image on social media platform X on Wednesday, claiming that an Islamabad doughnut shop was sealed after its employee allegedly disrespected Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Qazi Faez Isa.

A video linked to CJP Isa also began making rounds on social media on Wednesday.

The video shows CJP Isa standing at what appears to be a shop with two women. One of the women is seen speaking to a man, seemingly the shop’s employee whose face cannot be seen, regarding an order. According to the audio in the video, the employee apparently makes disrespectful remarks about the top judge after identifying him.

The video going viral on social media platforms showed a watermark reading “EHTASHAMABBASI”.

Ehtesham Ali Abbasi, describing himself as a crime reporter at Bol TV in his X bio, shared the video on Wednesday, racking up over 757,000 views. The alleged video was reshared 7,400 times, including by users whose past posts and profiles suggested they supported the PTI.

Crusteez, the shop in question, is a doughnut chain in Islamabad with multiple branches.

Amid the circulation of the viral video, an accompanying image showed officials at the entrance of a store, posting a notice indicating it had been sealed.

However, neither the posts sharing the video nor the image offered any information about the outlet where the alleged incident took place or the store that was allegedly sealed.

The image was shared by a user who appeared to be a PTI supporter, by digital media platform Siasat.pk’s founder Adeel Habib, by PTI leader Shahbaz Gill and by Syed Jlaluddin Jlal, who describes himself as a broadcast journalist associated with Bol News and ABP News.

The posts either implied or claimed that the doughnut shop was sealed after the alleged incident between the employee and the chief justice. The posts collectively garnered over 361,000 views.

Meanwhile, the viral video also began being shared on Thursday by PML-N supporters as can be seen here, here, here and here with the claim that it was the original video. The audio of this video, however, makes it seem that the alleged employee was praising the chief justice.

A fact-check was carried out to verify the claim regarding the shop due to its high virality and public interest.

A reverse image search conducted to investigate the viral image yielded an X post from Islamabad Deputy Commissioner (DC) Irfan Nawaz Memon on September 11.

The post’s caption said: “Action taken in F6 for violation of anti-dengue SOPs. One outlet sealed, one person arrested. DC Islamabad directed to continue strict actions against breeding of larvae.”

Searching for the doughnut shop’s locations on Google Maps yields an outlet called “Crusteez Innovations” in F6. As per the website, this branch is one meant for creativity, innovation and experimentation in product.

Furthermore, the publicly available images of the F6 branch on Google Maps show the same general structure and layout as the branch in the image shared by the Islamabad DC with an emphasis on a rectangular layout.

Meanwhile, in the video circulating on social media, it can be clearly seen that the outlet has two circle-shaped windows.

Investigating the website of the doughnut shop yielded an image that seemingly corresponded to the outlet in the video, with the same two circle windows with racks of doughnuts behind one of them on display.

A reverse image search yielded a similar image in a Facebook post by the chain on July 19, 2021, saying the outlet was located in Blue Area.

The publicly available images of the doughnut chain’s various outlets on Google Maps also showed that the layout of the two circle windows was only present at the Blue Area shop.

Dawn.com correspondent Nadir Guramani also confirmed that he visited the outlet where the alleged incident occurred where other members of the public gathered as well after the video surfaced, adding that it was indeed the Blue Area outlet.

Further investigation of the incident yielded posts from journalists claiming the video was an old one. The Nation correspondent Ali Hamza said in an X post a day ago that the video was from August 2024 after the Supreme Court’s judgement in the Mubarak Sani case.

A keyword search yielded a Facebook post dated August 20, 2024, from former News One correspondent Waheed Murad saying: “A counter boy at a popular bakery … in the Blue Area of ​​Islamabad, misbehaved with the chief justice of the country and his wife by refusing to sell them doughnuts.”

The post said the incident occurred a week ago and was related to the ongoing Mubarak Sani case. At the time, there was vehement criticism from certain sections of society towards the top judge.

Two videos, same footage

Separately, despite PML-N supporters claiming to share the original video of the incident, the version they posted still carried the “EHTASHAMABBASI” watermark and was shorter at 70 seconds compared to the earlier 75-second video.

Furthermore, in the video shared by the PTI supporters, a woman standing next to CJP Isa can be heard and seen repeating the disrespectful remarks allegedly hurled at him.

Meanwhile, the video shared by PML-N supporters abruptly cuts the woman’s question to the employee at the 62-second mark, while the full query is audible in the earlier version. This hints at the video being manipulated, with clear evidence of dubbing and synchronisation issues.

Contacted for comment, Affan Ahmed Khan, digital manager for Dawn News and a video editor, also examined the video and said: “The female’s voice was cut off at 1:02 [mark], and the person doing the voice-over, his audio starts. At that point, you may notice the background noise of the fan also gets lowered slightly.

“What the person has done is that he has clipped out the fan noise separately, made a loop of it, and placed the layer beneath his voice-over layer in the editing software while cutting down the original audio.”

He further said that “the person dubbing the video, his voice does not have an echo in it while the room’s area suggests that while speaking there should have been a slight echo in the audio”.

“His dubbing shows that he directly spoke into the mic, resulting in a sharper, deepened audio. Also, the camera shakes heavily, but his audio levels and sound remain the same. It is clearly a dubbed audio.”

Attempts to contact Crusteez twice for clarification on the entire matter did not yield any response.

However, the doughnut chain released a statement on its social media platforms. The statement is reproduced below in full:

“At Crusteez Donuts, we are committed to treating every customer with respect and fairness. We are aware of a video circulating where an employee refused service to a customer. This action was an individual decision and does not reflect our company’s values.

We are investigating the situation to understand the context fully. While respecting personal beliefs, service should never be denied based on individual opinions. We are reinforcing training across all locations to ensure our teams uphold our standards of inclusivity and professionalism.

We apologise to the customer involved and to those impacted. Thank you for your understanding as we address this matter.“

Therefore, the fact check has determined that the sealed doughnut shop in the viral image is not the same outlet where the alleged altercation between an employee and CJP Isa took place.

This fact check was originally published by iVerify Pakistan — a project of CEJ and UNDP.