Key conspirator in 'Bulli Bai' app case arrested from Assam

A 20-year-old engineering student, whom Delhi Police describes as the “main conspirator and creator” of the derogatory ‘Bulli Bai’ app that posted pictures of over 100 Muslim women and conducted online auctions, was arrested from Assam on Thursday.

Neeraj Bishnoi, a resident of Assam’s Jorhat, was apprehended by the Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police's Special Cell following investigations into a case registered by it following a complaint by a young woman journalist earlier this month.

This is the first arrest by Delhi Police in the case while Mumbai Police has apprehended three youths – an 18-year-old Uttarakhand resident Shewta Singh, 20-year-old Delhi University BSc Chemistry student Mayank Rawat from Uttarakhand, a 21-year-old engineering student in Bengaluru Vishal Kumar Jha hailing from Bihar – in a case registered separately.

Also Read | 'Bulli Bai': The malcontents of a poisoned society

Deputy Commissioner of Police (IFSO) KPS Malhotra said Bishnoi is the main conspirator and creator of 'Bulli Bai' app on GitHub platform and the owner of the main Twitter account of the app. He is a second year student of Vellore Institute of Technology in Madhya Pradesh's Bhopal.

Malhotra claimed Bishnoi, whose father is a businessman, has confessed about the creation of the application. "Forensic remnants of the creation have been found in his laptop...The IFSO worked out the case using technical analysis, IPDR (Internet Protocol Detail Records) and other gateways," he said, adding Bishnoi allegedly sent the app to social media propagators.

Also read: 'Bulli Bai' app to intimidate the courageous minority women, says Mariam Dhawale

An Assam Police officer said the operation to arrest him lasted about 12 hours and the arrest took place within hours of information being shared by Delhi Police, PTI reported.

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.

A number of vocal Muslim women, which included journalists, political party activists, a radio jockey, mother of a JNU student who went missing and anti-CAA student activists among others. Delhi Police had registered a case on the basis of a complaint by Ismat Ara, a journalist with news portal The Wire.

Also read: 'A vocal Muslim woman is everything that they hate,' says Hasiba Amin on 'Bulli Bai', 'Sulli Deal' cases

While the app was taken off, Github, the platform that hosted both the Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai apps, was asked to provide details of the creator of these apps.

Activists had said that the investigations in the previous Sulli Deals app failing to catch the perpetrator had emboldened others to come up with the Bulli Bai app

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