The Delhi Police on Sunday arrested the alleged creator of the Sulli Deals app that had put names and images of Muslim women for an 'online auction' in July last year. The accused has been identified as Aumkareshwar Thakur of Indore, Madhya Pradesh. The police also said Thakur was a member of a 'trad group' on Twitter.
"During preliminary interrogation, he admitted the idea was shared to defame and troll Muslim women," police said in a statement. Thakur, 26, reportedly developed the code on GitHub and the members of the group had access to it. "He had shared the app on his Twitter account. The photos of the Muslim women were uploaded by the group members," police added.
Also Read: 'We Were Reduced To Meat': Muslim Women Narrate Harassment Before 'Sulli Deals' Auction
The arrest comes days after Mumbai Police made breakthrough in the Bulli Bai case, a clone of Sulli Deals, where Muslim women with strong social media presence on were listed for an 'auction' on January 1.
The Delhi Police said that Thakur had joined a group named Tradmahasabha in January 2020 using Twitter handle @gangescion. "During various group discussions, the members had discussed the trolling of Muslim women," the police said. It also claimed that after uproar and widespread condemnation in Sulli Deals case, Thakur deleted all his social media handles.
In July a page named 'Sulli Deals' was created on GitHub which listed outspoken Muslim women for 'auction'. According to police, Thakur was identified as the creator of the Sulli Deals app during the the questioning of 'Bulli Bai' app creator Niraj Bishnoi. While cops have made the first breakthrough in Sulli Deals case, five months after the episode took place, four arrests have already been made in Bulli Bai case. The accused have been identified as 18-year-old Shweta Singh, 21-year-old Niraj Bishnoi, 21-year-old Vishal Jha and Mayank Rawal, 21.
ALSO READ: What Is GitHub, The Website Used To Create Sulli Deals And Bulli Bai?
While the Mumbai Police, in their press conference on 5 January, announced that 18-year-old Shweta Singh was behind the Bulli Bai app, a Twitter handle - @giyu44- tweeted to them saying they have arrested the wrong person. "You have arrested the wrong person Slumbai police. I am the creator of #BulliBaiApp. Not some random 21-year-old engineer or some 18-year-old mentally insane kid. Got nothing to do with the innocents whom you arrested, release them asap," the tweet read. The person behind that tweet - 21-year-old Neeraj Bhisnoi was arrested hours later.
ALSO READ: Who Is Shweta Singh, 18-Year-Old Arrested From Uttarakhand For Bulli Bai App?
While it was initially not clear who created the Sulli Deals app, a user with the name 'idk man' (@sdfrgt4rf) had claimed on Twitter to be the creator. The account - which was created in June 2021 - has now been suspended by Twitter. In an archive of his tweets, the user had stated, "I'm the guy who created that sullideal app. I used paid VPN & used protonmail. You guys won't be able to track me so stop crying infront (sic) of github. It will go up soon, just wait and watch." An investigation by BOOM revealed that the GitHub account was created using the email sullideals@protonmail.com. The email itself was created on June 13, 2021.