The Delhi Police on Saturday, 22 January, said that it had interrogated six more people, including two women and a minor, in connection with the Clubhouse chat case, in which misogynistic comments were made against Muslim women.
According to the police, a 17-year-old Class 12 student, who goes by the username ‘Alcoholic Singh’, admitted to being the moderator of the Clubhouse chatroom after being interrogated in front of his parents. He had initially created the CH account by the name of ‘Sallos’ and later changed it to ‘Alcoholic Singh’.
The Delhi Police has withheld his identity as he is a minor. It has seized the boy's mobile phone for forensic examination.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP), IFSO, KPS Malhotra said that no one has been arrested in the case yet.
“They were made to join the investigation either at their place of stay or at office.”KPS Malhotra, DCP IFSO
Who Are the Others Being Investigated?
The DCP added that two women, Anchal Anand and Roma Makkar, also joined the investigation.
Anand, a resident of Kerala, admitted to having used her name Anchal on Clubhouse and participated in a conversation with Roma. She claimed that other members had passed derogatory and vulgar comments regarding women, but she only made general remarks, in the discussion.
The Delhi Police has seized her mobile phone and notepad as well.
Meanwhile, Roma who is a resident of Nizamuddin in New Delhi, also admitted that the voice overhead during the discussion was her own.
Another user identified as Naumaan Jabber, a resident of Jodhpur, took part in the investigation as well.
The Delhi Police said that he created the account on 25 July last year by the username ‘Mr Casanova’ and has been an active user of the app since then.
He created another account, ‘Vercase_on_me’, around two months ago as a backup account and shared the backup account at the request of his friend Akash Suyal on 6 January.
Akash Suyal, a resident of Karnal, had his own Clubhouse account with the username ‘Ryuga’, which he later changed to ‘2ez4Akash xd’, and then to ‘KIRA XD’.
On 18 January, Suyal is believed to have informed Jabber about the police’s action on the discussions and the use of Clubhouse account. However, the Delhi Police has not confirmed this detail yet.
Jabber’s mobile phone has been seized for forensic examination.
Another accused in the case, Harsh Pal (username: coochielove), a first-year BCom student from Uttaranchal University, is a resident of Dehradun. He is alleged to have created the Clubhouse account with the username in June, 2021, and deactivated it on 19 January after the incident.
He claimed that he participated in the Clubhouse discussion for only 10 minutes and was just a listener.
He also said that his first name was reflected in the contentious room but he had not made any comments. He told the Delhi Police that the user ‘Harsh’, who was mentioned in the conversation, was another person with the same name.
The Police has seized his mobile phone and a laptop for forensic examination.
The Delhi Police has also interrogated 18-year-old Rahul Kapoor, who is alleged to have created the Clubhouse chatroom. His user ID on Clubhouse was was ‘Bismillah’.
During interrogation, he informed the police that he created the chatroom on behest of another user, ‘Sallos’, and then handed over the moderator key to him.
He said that he left the group after Sallos and other members started making derogatory comments. He also revealed that the real name of ‘KIRA XD' is Akash.
He told the police that Sallos was a 17-year-old student.
The mobile phone of Kapoor has also been seized for forensic examination.
Both Delhi and Mumbai Police have filed FIRs in connection with the incident.
The FIR by Delhi Police
The interrogation came just days after the Delhi Police took cognisance of the matter and filed an FIR under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings), and 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The cyber cell of the Delhi Police on Tuesday, 18 January, also sent a notice to Clubhouse to share the details of the chat room, and of members who were a part of it.
Mumbai Police Arrests Three
On Thursday, 20 January, the Mumbai Police had arrested three men in the Clubhouse chat case.
A case has been registered under Section 67 of the IT Act along with Sections 153A, 295A, 354A, 354D, 590, and 500 of the IPC, on the basis of a woman's complaint.
Speaking to The Quint on Friday, an official who is a part of the investigation team, said that all the three accused were from Haryana.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)