'Bulli Bai' app case: Neeraj Bishnoi remained glued to his laptop all the time, says father

I don't know what is happening but my heart says he has not done what he is being accused of, the father said

Neeraj Bishnoi, the B Tech student, who was arrested by Delhi Police from his residence in Assam in the 'Bulli Bai' app case, remained glued to his laptop, which was provided by Assam government after he did well in his Class 10 examinations, his father Dashrath Bishnoi told reporters in Assam.

"Since he got admission in the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal, he was doing classes online due to the Covid-19 restrictions. He was busy in studies all the time. I don't know what is happening but my heart says he has not done what he is being accused of," Dashrath, who is a shopkeeper in eastern Assam's Jorhat town, said soon after Neeraj was picked up by a team of cops on Thursday.

"He got 82 per cent marks in Class 10 [exams] and so he got the laptop under a scheme of the state government. The police team seized the laptop and a mobile phone," he further said. Bishnoi originally hails from Rajasthan but shifted to Assam years ago. The family now lives in Digambar Chowk area in Jorhat. He is the youngest of three siblings.

Also read: 'Bulli Bai' app creator Neeraj Bishnoi sent to 7-day police custody

Neeraj, who is a second-year student of computer science in VIT, Bhopal, was suspended by the institute hours after his arrest in the case.

Delhi Police on Thursday claimed Neeraj was the "main conspirator and creator” of the derogatory ‘Bulli Bai’ app on GitHub platform and the owner of the app that posted pictures of over 100 Muslim women and conducted online auctions. He is also the creater of the main Twitter account of the app, police said.

Also read: Collegemates clueless about boy arrested in Bulli Bai case

Jorhat SP Ankur Jain said Delhi Police had shared an IP (Internet Protocol) address of the device used by Neeraj and sought their help for his arrest. He was accordingly traced and arrested on Wednesday night.

The 'Bulli Bai' app, which surfaced six months after a similar 'Sulli Deals' app surfaced, came to light on January 1 when some of the women whose pictures were used and auctioned online spotted these on Twitter. An outrage followed and Union Information and Technology Minister Ashwani Vaishnaw assured action.

Delhi Police had registered a case on the basis of a complaint by Ismat Ara, a journalist with news portal The Wire.

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