NEW DELHI, Jan 9: The Delhi Police has arrested a young man from Indore in Madhya Pradesh claiming him to be the creator of a web-based app “Sulli Deals” which hosted doctored photographs and objectionable comments on some Muslim women meant to be “auctioned” online.
KPS Malhotra, DCP (Cyber Cell) said on Sunday, “We apprehended Aumkareshwar Thakur from Indore for his role in the Sulli Deals case. During interrogation, he admitted he joined a trad group (Tradmahasabha) on Twitter in January 2020 and the idea was to defame and troll Muslim women. He then developed code for the Sulli Deals on GitHub. The access to the app was with all the members of the group. He shared the app details on his Twitter account. The photos of the Muslim women were uploaded by other group members.”
The 25-year old Thakur, however, has denied any involvement in the case and claimed that he was being “wrongly framed” by the police. Malhotra, however, claimed that investigation had revealed that the accused had joined the group on Twitter by the name of ‘Tradmahasabha’ in January 2020 using the handle @gangescion. “He admitted that he had developed the code/app on GitHub. After the uproar regarding the Sulli Deals app, he had deleted all his social media footprints,” the DCP said.
The app targeted around 50-80 Muslim women in July, 2021 and was soon pulled down by GitHub after several women lodged complaints with the Delhi and Noida police alleging that the creators of the app were misusing their photos to “auction” them online.
On Saturday, police apprehended Thakur from Indore. Thakur was a BCA student from IPS Academy in Indore. The arrest followed apprehension of 21-year old Niraj Bishnoi from Assam by the Delhi police a couple of days ago for allegedly creating a similar app on GitHub in December last year. The app published photos of more than 100 Muslim women with objectionable remarks.
Aumkareshwar’s father Akhilesh Kumar Thakur, while speaking about the arrest, said, “I was in Nagda on an official tour when two officer, dressed in civil clothes, had come to my house. They asked for Aumkareshwar and then asked him to come with them along with his mobile phone and laptop. He was then taken to Delhi on a 7 pm flight. I am sure that he is being framed in the case.”
Hinting that there were larger players involved, Rajya Sabha MP Digvijay Singh said, “These youngsters are just foot soldiers. The bigger sharks are poisoning their minds and paying them some money. Catch the Big Fish.”
The Delhi Police said further analysis of technical gadgets was underway to find out the codes/images related to the app.
Earlier in July, a case was registered by the Cyber Cell of the Delhi Police after it received a complaint about an unidentified group uploading photos of Muslim women on an app.
Delhi Police PRO Chinmoy Biswal had earlier said, “Acting on a complaint received on the National Cybercrime Reporting Portal regarding ”Sulli Deals” mobile application, a case under section 354-A of the Indian Penal Code has been registered and investigation taken up.” The Indore police on Sunday said their Delhi counterparts have not shared any information with them about the arrest.
Indore Police Commissioner Harinarayanchari Mishra said, “We have come to know only from the media about the arrest of Thakur from Indore by Delhi Police. The Delhi Police have not shared any official information with us in this regard so far.” Mishra also said the Indore police would consider starting an investigation into the matter after the Delhi Police share with them details of the case. In “Bulli Bai” case, the Delhi Police on January 1 had registered an FIR in connection with an online complaint submitted by a city-based woman journalist against unknown persons for allegedly uploading her doctored picture on a portal.
The Delhi police had earlier said Niraj Bishnoi was the alleged mastermind and creator of the ”Bulli Bai” application. He had disclosed during interrogation that he was in touch with the person behind the Twitter handle @sullideals, the alleged creator of the ”Sulli Deals” app that was hosted on GitHub in July last year.
(Manas Dasgupta)