NEW DELHI: The alleged creator of the controversial app Sulli Deals, identified as Aumkareshwar Thakur (26), has been arrested by the Intelligence Fusion & Strategic Pps (IFSO) unit of Delhi Police. He is a resident of Indore in Madhya Pradesh.
DCP (Special Cell) KPS Malhotra said Thakur was a web developer and had a bachelor’s in Computer Application. His alleged motive was to troll and defame women after discussions on a trad-group on Twitter. TOI was first to report on Sunday that the key suspect in the case had been apprehended from MP.
Sulli Deals was released on GitHub in July last year, which allowed people to participate in an online “auction” of Muslim women. The Bulli Bai app released in December was a similar software.
The cyber cell had filed an FIR in the Sulli Deals case on July 7, 2021 and sent a request to GitHub for details of the user the same day. A reminder was sent a week later. However, the platform refused to share any details and asked police to come through the legal channel.
Delhi Police then started the MLAT procedure and the file was sent to Union ministry of home affairs via the Delhi government home department. Subsequently, the MLAT proposal was drafted and sent to the US Department of Justice.
Thakur lived with his parents and a brother in Newyork City township in Indore. His father is a sales manager with a private company. The family had planned to celebrate his birthday on January 17. His father claimed that Thakur was innocent. His brother works with a leading software consultancy firm.
“Thakur admitted that he was a member of a trad group on Twitter where the idea to defame and troll Muslim women was shared. He developed the code on GitHub,” said Malhotra.
The access to the GitHub application and account was with all members of the group and Thakur had also shared the app on his Twitter account. Photos of Muslim women were uploaded by the group members, said a senior officer, indicating that more arrests were likely.
The operations in both Sulli Deals and Bulli Bai cases were conducted by two special teams under ACP Raman Lamba. One team comprised inspector Hansraj and sub-inspectors Neeraj and Pawan, while the other had inspector Bhanu Pratap and ASI Ajeet.
The team went to Indore on January 8 and picked up Thakur for questioning. His tech gadgets were also scrutinised. During interrogation, he allegedly confessed to creating the Sulli Deals app. The digital footprints on his laptop and cyberspace are being analysed.
“The accused was produced before the court and taken into four-day police custody. Analysis of gadgets is under way to recover the codes and images related to the Sulli Deals app,” said the DCP.
