Hate-apps: Delhi Police stuck at 'lone-wolf' — no conspiracy in ch'sheets

New Delhi: Despite having said that both Aumkareshwar Thakur and Niraj Bishnoi had help from members of a group chat called Tradmahasabha on Twitter in creating the GitHub app targetting Muslim women, the Delhi Police have decided not to press criminal conspiracy charges under section 120B of the IPC — its probe stuck at the 'lone wolf' theory.

Even as both the accused were granted bail in the cases being probed by the Special Cell's IFSO unit, senior officials aware of the investigation have said that they do not yet have enough to add the conspiracy charge and that while discussions on the group did lead to the creation of the applications, no details about specifically creating the applications were discussed in this particular group.

This comes even as the Mumbai Police, in their chargesheet, said that they had found the accused seeking photos for the app, source codes to the application and other details on multiple group chats — following which links to the application "BulliBai" was shared on the groups in order to spread it around social media.

Millennium Post has learned that while the Delhi Police has also found that conversations on the Tradamhasabha group chat led to the creation of the apps, it is yet to find any material that could substantially prove a conspiracy.

One senior official aware of the probes said no link of either of the apps was shared on this particular group. "We have not yet found any communication with members of the Tradmahasabha group in the said group or in any other social media group so far specifically with respect to the applications or the creation of it," another official said, adding that more will be revealed after the results of the forensic examination of their devices come back.

As far as the Delhi Police are able to substantiate on their own for the time being, a senior investigator on the cases said, discussions revolved around the online behaviour of several prominent and outspoken Muslim women like Rana Ayyub and several other victims of the GitHub applications.

Another official said that members discussed why the women were posting their thoughts and discussions also went to why they were getting so much attention for putting their thoughts out and why they had so much reach on social media.

And the other official added that the members discussed "doing something" about this but not in any specific terms.

When asked, the officials said that many of the women being discussed in the group eventually ended up becoming targets on both the "SulliDeals" and the "BulliBai" apps but added that this was still not enough to add a conspiracy charge because for that, "the act of creating the app or resources needed for it" must have been discussed, one of them said.

However, in court, the prosecution has maintained that the cases need further investigation to find out whether there was an organised conspiracy behind creating the apps — which "seems to be designed with the intent to insult and embarrass Muslim women".

The police have clearly said in their chargesheet that further probe is required — especially after the forensic results arrive — and have left the case open to be able to file a supplementary chargesheet. IFSO chief DCP KPS Malhotra said they are waiting for these results — which will determine the next steps of the probe.

When asked if the discussions in the Tradmahasabha group pointed to the organised radicalisation of youth, one officer said that there was no such evidence thus far in this case pointing towards this.