Bulli Bai Case Update: 3 arrests and what we know so far. 5 points

Mumbai Police have arrested one more student, Mayank Rawal, 21, from Uttarakhand in the Bulli Bai app case. Rawal's arrest is the third in the case. The two others arrested in the Bulli Bai app case are Vishal Jha, a 21-year-old engineering student from Bengaluru, and Shweta Singh, an 18-year-old girl from Uttarakhand.

The three accused are said to have been operating accounts which circulated the morphed images of Muslim women on the US-based platform GitHub.

Here is a quick update on the case so far:

1. MUMBAI POLICE IN ACTION

Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale addressed a press conference on January 5 afternoon on the arrests and progress in the Bulli Bai app case. Nagrale said that the police received the complaint on January 2, 2022, and investigation was immediately started. He said that during the course of investigation, it came to light that a young man, Vishal Kumar Jha from Bengaluru, was involved in the app case, and was subsequently arrested.

Further investigation revealed that the Bulli Bai app had five followers, which gave police an angle for further investigation. “The app had five followers. We started investigating these five followers. We came to know of the operators and the person who initiated this angle,” Nagrale said during the press conference.

"We have arrested two persons from Uttarakhand, including a lady; and one student from Bengaluru," Nagrale added.

“The case is sensitive and it will not be appropriate to divulge a lot of details of the case. It might hamper the investigation. The accused who have not been apprehended might try to destroy the evidence, as most of the info is online,” Nagrale said.

2. THE THIRD ARREST

Mayank Rawal, 21, was arrested in Uttarakhand by the police in the early hours of Wednesday. His involvement in the Bulli Bai app came to light after the arrest of Shweta Singh, who was taken into custody yesterday. Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said that Mayank is Shweta's friend and that more people could be involved in this matter.

3. GIRL WHO LOST HER PARENTS

Shweta Singh, who was arrested from Uttarakhand yesterday, is a Class 12 passout from a school in Dehradun. She lost her father to Covid-19 this year, and sometime ago, lost her mother to cancer, India Today reported. Shweta was detained and taken into custody from the Uddham Nagar District and her transit remand was sought till January 5 by the police.

Shweta Singh has an elder sister who is a commerce graduate, and two younger siblings who are studying in school.

What has come as a shock to many is the fact that this 18-year-old is allegedly the mastermind behind the Bulli Bai app controversy, and it was Vishal Jha, the first person arrested in the case, who informed the police about her. Jha told the police that it was Shweta who was in touch with people who were instructing them about the posts and images on the app. But who were these people?

4. THE NEPAL STORY

The question of the other people takes us to Nepal, from where a Nepali national, GiYou, was allegedly monitoring and guiding the stuff which Shweta Singh was putting on the app, India Today reported. Shweta is said to be operating at least three accounts; with one of the fake Twitter handles being 'JattKhalsa07'.

The handle is said to be behind the hate posts, morphed images, and objectionable photos and comments. At the same time, there was an attempt to give a Khalistani angle to the whole story. The handlers in Nepal are supposedly behind this.

5. WOMAN AGAINST WOMEN

Victims of the Bulli Bai app have expressed their regret on the fact that young students including a woman are involved in this crime. One of the victims of the controversy, Sania Sayed, wrote on Twitter that the society has collectively failed if young kids are into these crimes.

Ram Bhakt Gopal was a kid.Komal Sharma was a kid.Kapil Gujjar was a kid. Vishal Jha is a kid.Shweta Singh is a kid.If these are 'kids' you have brought up, then your society has failed.

— Saniya Sayed (@Ssaniya_) January 4, 2022

Actress Gul Panag also expressed disappointment over the fact that a woman was involved in the auctioning of other women.

Sad. It’s people like her that gave grounds for quotes like “Women are women’s worst enemies.”As to changing the name part, well it neatly fits into the on going narrative. Remember, it all starts with othering. And we’ve seen it play it before. #BulliBai https://t.co/d9HWKjvJtd

— Gul Panag (@GulPanag) January 4, 2022