3 held for targeting interfaith couples, blackmailing them by uploading videos on social media

Three persons were arrested in Vadodara in Gujarat for allegedly targeting interfaith couples, harassing them and uploading their videos on social media in order to cause enmity among religious groups, a police official said on Monday.

The matter came to light when the video of one such couple went viral on social media platform X and a probe found that a gang that actively targeted such couples and shared videos on a Whatsapp group called 'Army of Mahdi' was behind it, Zone 2 Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhay Soni said.

Three administrators of the Whatsapp group, identified as Mustakim Sheikh, Burhan Saiyad and Sahil Sheikh, were arrested under Indian Penal Code (IPC) provisions for promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc., making statements conducing to public mischief, and disappearance of evidence, the DCP said.

The content they shared could have led to mob lynching and communal clashes, he said, adding that the Whasapp group in question had a network of members who operated across the city and kept a watch on such interfaith couples.

'As per their modus operandi, they'd keep a Whatsapp group active for three-four months and then delete it before starting a new group with several people being its members. They also used the video to blackmail the family members of the woman,' the senior police official said.

The arrested accused said they would first target a woman when she was seen with a man from a different faith and record their video that was then used to blackmail them, he informed.

'We have seized their mobile phones and sent them to the Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL). We will try to recover the audio and videos. We will question all the members of the group,' he said.

The DCP asked those who have been harassed by the group to come forward and record their statements, adding that the police would keep their identities secret.

'We are trying to find out the motive behind such an act and see whether they were backed by a group operating on a bigger level or whether they were self inspired. From where they got the inspiration to run such a group is being investigated,' he said.

The DCP said the accused specifically targeted women from their own religion as a form of moral policing and a probe is underway to find if they extorted money on the basis of such videos.