CBI arrests 1 suspect in case of rape videos circulating on social media
New Delhi: CBI has arrested a suspected sex offender who purportedly appeared in one of the sex videos handed over to the agency by the Supreme Court for investigations.
CBI sources said agency has arrested property dealer Subrat Sahu alias Kalia from Bhubaneswar who has purportedly figured in one of the nine video clips handed over to the agency for probe by the apex court.
The Supreme Court had taken suo-motu cognisance of a letter written by Hyderabad-based NGO to Chief Justice of India HK Dattu. The NGO has also annexed nine videos of separate sexual offences being circulated on social media in a pen drive. The apex court had ordered CBI to start probe in the cases.
In none of the cases, it is not clear the time and place of crime, identity of victim and offenders who are appearing on the video. The sources said Sahu has been arrested in the case where two males and a woman are seen engaged in sexual act in an old video clip.
CBI sources said the case has registered on charges of common intention, propagating obscene material and assault to woman with intent to outrage her modesty under provisions of Indian Penal Code besides provisions of Information Technology Act related to violation of privacy and publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form.
Besides this case, the agency has registered six FIRs of alleged gangrape and one FIR of rape while a Preliminary Enquiry has also been registered. The FIRs related to gangrape and rape, the agency has also invoked sections of abduction. The sources said Sahu was arrested late last night in Bhubaneswar.
The sources said details of the case will emerge during the custodial interrogation but it is suspected that the alleged sexual act appeared to have taken place in Bhubaneswar somewhere around 2010. "We are yet to establish the identity of the victim, location of the crime, date of the crime which will be possible during the custodial interrogation. These are blind cases of viral videos of sexual offences taking place at unknown locations by unknown persons. It was very difficult to nail down the culprits," an official said.
When contacted CBI Press Information Officer R K Gaur today said that the agency has announced a cash reward of Rs one lakh for information on suspects who appear in the nine video clips being probed by the agency. "There are nine suspects the photographs of whom have been sent to DGPs of all the states," Gaur said.
The sources said in one of the video clips probed by the agency there are visuals of a girl being purportedly gangraped inside a moving car while in another video a girl is seen being blackmailed, and criminally intimated by some men who are allegedly seeking sexual favours from her.
The NGO, which provided the videos in a pen drive along with the letter to the CJI, had said that one video, which is 4.5 minutes long, shows a man raping a girl while another man is filming the heinous act.
The other video, spanning 8.5 minutes, relates to gang rape of a girl by five culprits who have been shown smiling, cracking jokes, making a video and taking photos while they went about sexually assaulting the victim, it said.
The court had then issued notices to central ministries of Home Affairs and Information Technology and asked the MHA to "forward the pen drive/DVD" to the CBI Director "forthwith" for the investigation.
