Shimla: Police said that the two youths from Himachal Pradesh arrested in the case related to the circulation of an “objectionable” video of a female student at the Chandigarh University had blackmailed her to shoot the videos. The female student has also been arrested in the case. According to sources, the interrogation of the arrested accused Sunny Mehta and his friend Rankaj Vermar revealed that they had blackmailed the female student to make the videos.
During the investigation, the police have come across the purported chat on the girl's mobile phone with Sunny, the alleged boyfriend of the girl who asks her in the chat to make videos of her classmates at the varsity. Police also come across a social media chat on the girl's phone with another youth named Mohit.
Police are investigating whether the youth exists for real it is a fake account. Sunny and his friend Rankaj were detained by the Punjab police from Shimla on Sunday evening. The three accused, including the female student, were produced in court on Monday, which sent them to police remand for seven days.
Also read: Two HP youth held in Chandigarh Varsity 'objectionable' video case
Sunny Mehta is the alleged boyfriend of the girl, who has been arrested by the Punjab police. Sunny is a resident of Rohru in the Shimla district. The accused has studied up to BA from Sanjauli College, Shimla. 23-year-old Sunny currently works with his brother in a biscuit and cake factory in Rohru while 31-year-old Rankaj Verma is a resident of Theog, Shimla who works in a local travel agency.
Pertinently, on Friday, five girls complained to the Chandigarh University Hostel warden that a student had made their video. When the accused student was interrogated by other students and the warden, she confessed that she had made a video and sent it to Sunny Mehta of Shimla. The female students created a ruckus at 3 am on Sunday and clashed with the police who rushed to the spot.
Meanwhile, the accused female student was questioned on which she showed the accused Shimla youth's picture to the police on her mobile phone. There were massive protests by students at Chandigarh University against the circulation of the purported videos of “several female students”.
The varsity administration, however, refuted as “baseless” the “rumours” saying only a video of the arrested female student had been shared. The administration also refuted rumours about the “suicide attempts” by female students over the purported videos. On Sunday, the Himachal police first took both the accused into their custody and handed them over to the Punjab police team, which took both the accused, along with them.
In this case, the female student was also arrested after registering a case against the girl for allegedly breaching the IT Act and the privacy of others. Dissatisfied with the words and actions of the police and the university management, the students again started protesting at Chandigarh University on Sunday evening. At 1.30 pm, the university management and administration assured to accept all the demands of the girl students after which the strike ended. On Monday, the three accused got seven days of police remand from the court.
