Mumbai: A team of Mumbai Police on Tuesday detained an 18-year-old girl from Uttarakhand in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case.
Identified as one Shweta Singh, police have claimed her to be the main accused in the case. The Mumbai Police had applied for the girl's transit remand in the local court, which was accepted. The police team has reached Mumbai with the accused on a five-day transit remand.
Talking to the media, SP City, Rudrapur, Mamta Bohra said that the Mumbai Police had contacted the Rudrapur Police regarding the 'Bulli Bai' App case. She said the girl, living in Ward number 14, Adarsh Colony of Rudrapur, was in contact with the 21-year-old accused Vishal Kumar, who was arrested from Bengaluru.
Mumbai Police had earlier said that both detainees knew each other.
According to SP Bohra, the accused girl was operating an account under the name 'Jatt Khalsa 07', from which many photos were shared. According to her, the girl told the police that she was in contact with the person who originally generated the Twitter handle for the 'Bulli Bai' app and also had conversations with the other detainee, Vishal Kumar.
The girl has recently passed 12th. According to the information received from the police, she had a friendship with a Nepali boy who had asked the girl to leave her Twitter account and create a fake one.
Following this, she changed her Twitter account and created a new account under the name of 'Jatt khalsa 07' which was later used to share the photos of Muslim women 'auctioned' on the app. However, the claims have not yet been verified.
Also read: EXPLAINED: What are Bulli Bai, Sulli Deals apps that sparked outrage?
According to the DCP Cyber Cell, Mumbai Police, Dr Rashmi Karandikar, both the accused are being interrogated. According to the DCP Karandikar, photographs of 100 prominent Muslim women, including journalists, were uploaded for auction on the app.
Shiv Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi on Saturday lodged a complaint with the Mumbai Police and Maharashtra's Minister of State for Home and Information and Technology Satej Patil regarding the 'Bulli Bai' app and demanded immediate arrest of those involved.
Earlier in the day, Mumbai's Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate's Court sent Vishal Kumar (21), detained in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case, to police custody till January 10. The 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru was arrested by the Mumbai cyber police on Monday. Mumbai police have also been allowed to search Kumar's premises in Bengaluru.
Talking to the media, Kumar's lawyer, Advocate D. Prajapati said, "My client has been sent to police custody till January 10. My client is falsely implicated in this case. Police had filed an application to obtain a search warrant."
Mumbai Police said that the main accused was handling three accounts related to the 'Bulli Bai' app, while at the same time, the co-accused, Vishal Kumar, was operating an account under the name of 'Khalsa supremacist'.
Kumar had changed the name of his account on December 31, to resemble Sikh names.
The Mumbai Cyber Police had, on Sunday, registered a case against the developers of the 'Bulli Bai' app and Twitter handles promoting it. An FIR against unknown persons was registered following complaints that photographs of Muslim women were uploaded for auction on the app hosted by the GitHub platform.
Also read: Mumbai Police register case against developers of 'Bulli Bai' app
The West Zone Cyber Police Station has registered an FIR under sections 153 (a) of IPC (spreading hostility), 153 (b) (attacking national unity), 295 (a) (inciting religious sentiments) and 354D (repulsion), 509 (sexual harassment), 500 (defamation), as well as section 67 of the IT Act (publishing or disseminating pornographic material) against a Twitter handle and the 'Bully Bai' app developer.
Meanwhile, the Delhi police said a case was registered based on a complaint received on January 1st and a probe is underway. Chinmoy Biswal, additional CP & Delhi Police PRO, told media, "A case was registered based on a complaint received on Jan 1, probe underway. We've contacted the app hosting platform & are awaiting their reply. Further action to be taken based on their reply."
"The hosting platform is based abroad. Delhi Police have got approval for MLAT (Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty in Criminal Matters) from GNCT. The investigation is progressing," Biswal added.
Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for auction on the 'Bulli Bai' app with photographs sourced without permission and doctored. It has happened for the second time in less than a year. The app appeared to be a clone of 'Sulli Deals' which triggered a similar row last year.
