‘Bulli Bai’ app case: Mumbai Police arrest one more student

PTI, Jan 5, 2022, 11:59 AM IST

Mumbai cyber police have arrested one more student from Uttarakhand in connection with the ‘Bulli Bai’ app case, an official said on Wednesday.

The student, identified as Mayank Rawal (21), was nabbed from the northern state in the early hours of Wednesday, the official said.

The cyber cell of Mumbai police had earlier arrested Shweta Singh (19), alleged to be the main culprit, from Uttarakhand, and engineering student Vishal Kumar Jha (21) from Bengaluru in connection with the case.

The Mumbai police had registered a First Information Report (FIR) against unidentified persons following complaints that doctored photographs of hundreds of Muslim women were uploaded for ‘auction’ on the app called `Bulli Bai’, hosted on the open-source software platform GitHub.

While there was no actual `auction’ or `sale’, the purpose of the app seemed to be to humiliate and intimidate the targeted women, many of whom are active social media users.

The Mumbai cyber police station has also registered a case against the app’s unidentified developers and Twitter handles which promoted it.

Delhi Police sends ‘Bulli Bai’ case to IFSO unit, gets nod for MLAT procedure in ‘Sulli Deals’ case

The Delhi Police on Tuesday transferred the ‘Bulli Bai’ case to its Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations unit and is planning to get a nod for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty procedure to seek information about the app from its foreign-based hosting platform, officials said.

Police said the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSCO) unit is also probing the ‘Sulli Deals’ mobile application case that emerged in July last year.

About the probe into the ‘Sulli Deals’ case, a police officer said the IFSCO unit on Tuesday got a nod for Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) procedure in criminal matters from the Centre.

Hundreds of Muslim women were listed for ‘auction’ on the ‘Bulli Bai’ mobile application 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.

The Delhi Police on Saturday registered an FIR against unknown persons for allegedly uploading a doctored picture of a woman journalist on a website.

The journalist had lodged a complaint and shared a copy on Twitter.

“A case was registered in connection with the ‘Bulli Bai’ mobile app after a complaint was received on January 1. The probe is underway. We have also approached the hosting platform which is based abroad and are awaiting their reply for further investigation into the matter,” a senior police officer said.

Another officer said, “The ‘Bulli Bai’ case has been transferred to the IFSCO unit and as per protocol we are planning to write to authorities concerned to seek approval for MLAT even as an investigation into the matter is underway.”