by MUMBAI/DEHRADUN: The Mumbai cybercrime police probing the ‘Bulli Bai‘ app case arrested Mayank Rawat (21), a BSc (Chemistry) student at Zakir Hussain College in Delhi University, from his house in Pauri Garhwal’s Kotdwar city in Uttarakhand on Wednesday. His father is in the Indian Army and is currently posted in Jammu.
This is the third arrest in the case. Earlier, Shweta Singh (18), a class XII passout, was arrested from Uttarakhand and Vishal Kumar Jha (21), a Bihar youth, was nabbed from Bengaluru where is studying engineering.
Police sources said that the ‘Bulli Bai’ Twitter handle was created by Singh and had five followers, including Rawat and Jha (he used two handles). Police are now on the lookout of the app creator and the other two followers of Singh’s Twitter handle.
Rawat and Singh, who are acquaintances, will be soon brought to Mumbai for interrogation.
The controversy blew up on January 1 when several Muslim women found themselves being “auctioned” on the ‘Bulli Bai’ app hosted by GitHub. The app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture of a Khalistani supporter. A case against the app was lodged by Mumbai Police on the same day.
Police said Rawat had created his Twitter account in 2020 and was communicating with the handle @[email protected], the same person – a Nepali national identified only as Giyou – who had befriended Singh on social media.
A police source told TOI, “Rawat, in his statement, said on December 31, 2021, @[email protected], during a chat, sent him a link of Github platform and asked him to take as many as screenshots of the ‘Bulli Bai’ app and add to his social media timeline so that they can instigate people and attract more followers.”
Rawat allegedly sourced photographs and details of Muslim women from different social media platforms without their consent and uploaded them on the app. He used various Twitter handles to circulate these photographs. “On January 1, he took at least eight screenshots and posted them on his Twitter handle. On January 3, he tried to delete the post, but it was late so he deactivated his account,” said the source. The Mumbai cybercrime police have seized his mobile and retrieved the screenshots.
“Bulli Bai app is created by some unknown person who is known to the trio,” said Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale. “The intention behind the exact motive of the app is unclear. So far, we didn’t come across any money transactions in the activities from those arrested,” Nagrale added.
This is the third arrest in the case. Earlier, Shweta Singh (18), a class XII passout, was arrested from Uttarakhand and Vishal Kumar Jha (21), a Bihar youth, was nabbed from Bengaluru where is studying engineering.
Police sources said that the ‘Bulli Bai’ Twitter handle was created by Singh and had five followers, including Rawat and Jha (he used two handles). Police are now on the lookout of the app creator and the other two followers of Singh’s Twitter handle.
Rawat and Singh, who are acquaintances, will be soon brought to Mumbai for interrogation.
The controversy blew up on January 1 when several Muslim women found themselves being “auctioned” on the ‘Bulli Bai’ app hosted by GitHub. The app was also being promoted by a Twitter handle with the name @bullibai, with the display picture of a Khalistani supporter. A case against the app was lodged by Mumbai Police on the same day.
Police said Rawat had created his Twitter account in 2020 and was communicating with the handle @[email protected], the same person – a Nepali national identified only as Giyou – who had befriended Singh on social media.
A police source told TOI, “Rawat, in his statement, said on December 31, 2021, @[email protected], during a chat, sent him a link of Github platform and asked him to take as many as screenshots of the ‘Bulli Bai’ app and add to his social media timeline so that they can instigate people and attract more followers.”
Rawat allegedly sourced photographs and details of Muslim women from different social media platforms without their consent and uploaded them on the app. He used various Twitter handles to circulate these photographs. “On January 1, he took at least eight screenshots and posted them on his Twitter handle. On January 3, he tried to delete the post, but it was late so he deactivated his account,” said the source. The Mumbai cybercrime police have seized his mobile and retrieved the screenshots.
“Bulli Bai app is created by some unknown person who is known to the trio,” said Mumbai Police commissioner Hemant Nagrale. “The intention behind the exact motive of the app is unclear. So far, we didn’t come across any money transactions in the activities from those arrested,” Nagrale added.
