Mumbai Police arrest Bulli Bai creator from Bengaluru

In a major breakthrough in the #BulliBai app (application) case, the Mumbai police have arrested a 21-year-old engineering student.

The student was detained in Bengaluru yesterday and was arrested after he was grilled by the Mumbai Police Cyber Cell chief Deputy Commissioner of Police Rashmi Karandikar and her team.

The said application targeted Muslim women and ‘offered’ them in online auction. The app had become active last weekend and was available on GitHub. It was removed from the platform after complaints from different quarters, including by Shiv Sena Member of Parliament (MP) Priyanaka Chaturvedi.

The app had posted photographs of over 100 Muslim women, who are active on social media and include journalists, social activists, film stars and artistes.

A similar app, Sunni Deals was launched around June 2021 and Chaturvedi police had complained about it to the Delhi Police and Union Information Technology (IT) Minister, who informed her that the app had been blocked. The MP expected stringent action against the creator/s, not just blocking of the app.

Not happy with the lackadaisical attitude of the IT Ministry and the failure of the Delhi police to take action against the creator/s of Sulli Deals, Chaturvedi complained about Bulli Deals to Mumbai Police and Mumbai Police could track the creator within two days. More arrests are expected in connection with the case.

The engineering student has been booked under relevant sections of Indian Penal Code and Information Technology Act.