Over my many years I've built up some good direct and indirect contacts in "high places".
When this virus first hit the US I received a call from "someone who knew someone" in a special laboratory that had already sequenced the virus. The person on that call told me that it had already been determined that the virus was man-made, and that it did incorporate the HIV virus.
But it doesn’t incorporate the HIV virus. There is a small section in the genetic code which is common with the HIV virus and many other viruses including plant viruses. Nothing special at all; very ordinary.
My understanding is that the Indian paper was withdrawn based on political pressure, not a scientific refutation.