'Sulli Deals' app creator arrested; sent to 4-day police custody

New Delhi, Jan 9 (IANS) Six months after the registration of a case against the creator of the Sulli Deals mobile application, where photos of Muslim women were displayed for auction, the Delhi Police has finally arrested the mastermind behind the creation of the derogatory application.

Aumkareshwar Thakur, the creator of the derogatory app 'Sulli deals', who was apprehended from Indore in Madhya Pradesh, has been sent to 4-day police custody by a local court in Delhi on Sunday.

"Thakur has been arrested and a four-days police custody has been granted by the court," an official said here.

The derogatory 'Sulli Deals' mobile app had surfaced in July last year where photos of Muslim women were displayed without their consent for auction.

Thakur -- a resident of Newyork City Township in Indore was apprehended on January 8.

The Cyber Crime Unit of the Delhi Police had registered an FIR under section 354-A (Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code on July 8.

According to the police, the 25-year-old accused admitted that he was member of a group on Twitter that defamed and trolled Muslim women.

"He had developed the code on GitHub. The access of GitHub was with all the members of the group," the police said.

Apart from Sulli deals, another shocking incident of harassment and insulting women of the minority community on the social media came to light on January 1 after a Delhi-based woman journalist lodged a complaint with the Delhi Police, stating that she was being targeted by some unidentified group of people on a mobile application, this time named as 'Bulli Bai', yet again created on GitHub platform.

'Bulli Bai' had a number of pictures of women, including journalists, social workers, students and famous personalities, accompanied by derogatory content. The app listed hundreds of Muslim women for "auction".

The creator of the Bulli Bai app, Niraj Bishnoi, was also arrested by the Delhi Police on January 6.

During the interrogation of accused Niraj Bishnoi (in Bulli Bai matter), it emerged that he used to interact with various virtual identities on social media and used to engage in group discussions.

In the month of July 2021, in one of the groups in which Niraj Bishnoi was a member, the other group member shared the details of Sulli Deals app.

That was the first time Niraj Bishnoi or other group members had heard about the Sulli Deals app on GitHub.

The Twitter handle was backtracked and it was learnt that after the Sulli Deals uproar, the said Twitter handle and other footprints were erased from various social media platforms.

"A Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request has also been sent to the Department of Justice to obtain details from GITHUB," the police said.

Niraj Bishnoi further dwelled into the details that the said Twitter handle belonged to a person who stays in Indore.

Based on technical analysis, one Twitter handle in the name of the accused Aumkar Thakur was identified and on January 8, a team of IFSO, Special Cell went to Indore.

The accused Aumkareshwar was examined and his technical gadgets were subjected to preliminary analysis.

During investigation, he was subjected to interrogation, in which he confessed that he had created the Sullideal app.

"The necessary digital footprints in his laptop and on the cyber space are being probed," a senior official said.

During interrogation, Aumkareshwar revealed that he had developed the code on GitHub.

The access of GitHub was with all the members of the group. He had shared the app on his Twitter account where the photos of the Muslim women were uploaded by the group members.

"Further analysis of the technical gadgets is underway to recover the codes and images related to the Sulli Deals app," the police added.