‘Bulli Bai’ App Case: Accused Shweta Singh, Mayank Rawal Remanded To Police Custody Till Jan 10

Mumbai police’s cyber cell had arrested Shweta Singh (18) and Mayank Rawal (21) from Uttarakhand on January 5.

Representative Photo: Getty Images

New Delhi: A local court in Mumbai on Friday remanded accused Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal in police custody till January 10 following their arrest in connection with the ‘Bulli Bai’ app case.

This comes after the main accused in the ‘Bulli Bai’ app case, Neeraj Bishnoi, was on Thursday remanded to seven-day police custody.

Mumbai police’s cyber cell had arrested Shweta Singh (18) and Mayank Rawal (21) from Uttarakhand on January 5. They were then brought to Mumbai after their transit remand was procured from a local court.

Both accused persons were produced before the Bandra metropolitan magistrate on Friday where the police sought their custody for interrogation, news agency PTI reported.

The police told the court the two would have to be questioned along with Vishal Kumar Jha, who was arrested in the case earlier and is presently in police custody till January 10.

The court, after hearing the prosecution, remanded Shweta Singh and Mayank Rawal to police custody till January 10.

Accused Persons In ‘Bulli Bai’ App Case

Earlier, the police had claimed Shweta Singh had created a Twitter handle of the app and was the prime accused in the case.

The Delhi police’s special cell, which has also registered an FIR in the case, on Friday arrested 20-year-old Niraj Bishnoi from Assam in the case, calling him the main creator of the app.

He is reported to be the main conspirator - creator of ‘Bulli Bai’ on GitHub and the main Twitter account holder of the app. 

As per news agency ANI, Neeraj Bishnoi is a resident of the Digambar area of Assam’s Jorhat. He was studying BTech at the Vellore Institute of Technology, Bhopal. 

Other accused include Vishal Kumar Jha, an engineering student from Bengaluru, Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand, and Mayank Rawal. 

Vishal Kumar was sent to police custody till January 10 by a Bandra court.

‘Bulli Bai’ App Row 

The listing of Muslim women for “auction” on the ‘Bulli Bai’ mobile application with photographs sourced without permission and doctored had led to widespread outrage in the country.

Several police complaints were lodged while leaders from across the political spectrum condemned the cyber harassment of women belonging to the minority community and called for strict action against the guilty. 

As per PTI, the ‘Bulli Bai’ app featured images of Muslim women with a strong presence on Twitter. These female social media users, including journalists, have been singled out based on their strong presence with their photos uploaded on the app.

This is the second such case in less than a year as the app appears to be a clone of ‘Sulli Deals’ which triggered a controversy in 2021.

(With Agency Inputs)