The Central Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday obtained one-day custody of a Bhubaneswar-based property dealer, who has been arrested for alleged involvement in preparing and circulating a sex video clip on the Internet.
Accused Subrat Sahu has been named in one of the eight cases registered by the CBI on the directions of the Supreme Court, which took suo motu cognisance of a letter from the Hyderabad-based non-governmental organisation Parjwala to Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu seeking action.
Along with the letter, the NGO had also submitted a pen drive containing video clips of sexual offences that were in circulation on social networking websites and mobile phone applications, including WhatsApp. The apex court directed the Union Home Ministry to forward the clips to the CBI for investigations.
Subrat Sahu allegedly figured in one of the clips, sexually assaulting a woman, while another person was shown filming his act.
Preliminary findings have suggested that the incident took place about five years ago.
“Pursuant to the Supreme Court directive, we instituted a preliminary enquiry into a video showing an unidentified man beating unidentified children. Eight cases have been registered in connection with eight video clips relating to gang-rape, rape and sexual harassment,” said a CBI official.
Sahu was arrested in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday, under various provisions of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act.
Propagated obscene material He has been accused of propagating obscene material, assaulting a woman with the intention to outrage her modesty, publishing/transmitting obscene material in electronic form and violating privacy of the victim.
On Wednesday, he was brought to Delhi and produced before Metropolitan Magistrate Sujit Saurabh who remanded him in one-day custody of the agency for interrogation and identification of his accomplices.
The CBI official said in none of the eight cases the time and place of alleged offences, besides the identity of suspects or victims who figured in the video clips, were clear when the agency took up investigations.
The agency has declared a reward of Rs.1 lakh each on information leading to the arrest of the suspects who figured in the clips.
