New Delhi: The alleged mastermind and creator of the ‘Bulli Bai’ application, Niraj Bishnoi, has revealed that he had the habit of hacking into websites of schools and universities of both India and Pakistan, police officials said on Saturday.
According to the police, during interrogation, Bishnoi also disclosed that he was also in touch with the person behind the Twitter handle @sullideals, the alleged creator of the ‘Sulli Deals’ app that was created on GitHub in July last year, news agency PTI reported.
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21-year-old Niraj Bishnoi was arrested by the Delhi police from Assam in the case which relates to hundreds of Muslim women being listed for “auction” on the “Bulli Bai” app on the Github platform.
The police said that the claim of Bishnoi being in touch with the creator of the ‘Sulli Deals’ app is being verified, adding that further technical analysis is being conducted and forensic examination of devices is underway.
“During interrogation, Bishnoi has revealed that he has the habit of hacking and defacing websites. He has been learning it since he was 15-year-old. He had hacked or defaced various websites of schools and universities of India as well as of Pakistan. His claims of hacking websites,” Deputy Commissioner of Police (Intelligence Fusion and Strategic Operations) KPS Malhotra said, as quoted by PTI.
It was revealed that Bishnoi has an inclination towards the Japanese animated gaming character 'GIYU'. He had created various Twitter handles using the word and used one such account to challenge the law enforcement agencies to nab him.
The various Twitter handles he created include -- @giyu2002, @giyu007, @giyuu84, @giyu94 and @giyu44.
On January 3, Niraj created the account @giyu44 to discredit the arrests made by the Mumbai Police in the case while throwing an open challenge for law enforcement agencies to nab him.
According to the Police, he has further disclosed that he was in touch with the persons arrested by the Mumbai Police and used to chat through Twitter.
He had never met the other accused arrested in the case and did not even have their contact numbers. He also disclosed that he was using the Twitter account of Shweta, arrested by the Mumbai Police, they said, as reported by PTI.
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Niraj Bishnoi Trying To Delay Investigation, Threatened To Commit Suicide: Police
The official further stated that Niraj Bishnoi is trying to delay the investigation and not cooperating. He had also tried to harm himself twice and threatened to commit suicide, police claimed.
It was informed that due care is being taken care of him in custody. His medical examination has been conducted and he is stable and unharmed. This may be due to his mental condition or maybe he wants to delay the investigation, police officials said.
Later, in a statement, the police stated that during social media monitoring, it came to notice that two websites were claiming that they had interviewed Bishnoi hours before his arrest.
“It is clarified that accused Niraj Bishnoi was disturbed after the arrest of three of his followers namely Vishal, Shweta, and Mayank Rawal. He wanted to divert the attention of the media by claiming that Vishal and Shweta were innocent,” the statement read.
“To propagate this fact, he had created the Twitter account @giyu44 and started sharing the screenshots of the code creation and the email accounts used by him for creating the code on GitHub,” it added.
Bishnoi had received mail from GitHub on the email account used by him, as a policy measure of GitHub, that they had received an information request from a law enforcement agency.
According to the police statement, “To support his claim of creation of the ‘Bulli Bai’ app and to prove the innocence of earlier arrested accused he had shared the login details, email details, and screenshots with one Shubham Sharma and on Twitter also”.
“Bishnoi had intentionally divulged the details with Sharma and on Twitter to gain publicity. He had shared only partial details to support his claim of the creation of the app. He communicated through VPN with them also, so that he could not be traced. He was challenging the law enforcement agencies to nab him,” the police stated, as quoted by PTI.
Accused In ‘Bulli Bai’ App Case
The Delhi police’s special cell had arrested Niraj Bishnoi from Assam, 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.
Other accused include Vishal Kumar Jha, an engineering student from Bengaluru, Shweta Singh from Uttarakhand, and Mayank Rawal.
The three have been remanded in police custody till January 10.
(With Agency Inputs)