Clubhouse row: Mumbai police arrest three from Haryana

Akash Suyal, 19, the moderator of the two chat rooms

A 19-year-old moderator of two chat rooms on Clubhouse, where obscene comments against women were posted, was arrested with two others from Haryana. The probe has found that women were also part of the chat rooms where women were ‘auctioned', said cops.

On Thursday night, Mumbai police arrested moderator Akash Suyal, 19, from Karnal and Jashanav Kakkar, 21, and Yashkumar alias Yash Parasar, 22, from Faridabad, in Haryana. They secured their transit remand and are bringing them to the city, said officers.

Mumbai police arrested accused (left) Jashanav Kakkar and Yash Parasar from Faridabad in Haryana

Police said that the accused also spoke about "auctioning" body parts of some women. They used profile photos of Muslim women, added in chat rooms, for "auction".

A Mumbai woman, who was also included in one of the chat rooms, had filed a complaint with the Mumbai cyber cell, following which police registered an FIR.

Milind Bharambe, JCP, Crime Branch

Suyal created the two chat rooms on January 16 and 19, and added around 300 people, including women. His ID was Kira SD, said police, adding that Suyal has completed higher secondary education. Kakkar, a B.Com student, and Parasar, who is studying law, made abusive comments about women in the chat rooms.

While the social audio app is handled from outside the country, all the members were Indians, according to the investigation so far.

A Crime Branch officer told mid-day that not all members of the groups were engaging in the chat. "We are monitoring audio chats in the virtual chat rooms to check how many people have participated," he added.

Milind Bharambe, joint commissioner of police (JCP), Crime Branch, said, "Those who were using foul language have been made accused in the FIR. Some people were part of the groups, but they weren't commenting, so they have not been made accused in the case. The investigation is going on, and if anyone else is found guilty, then action will be taken against them, too."

300
No. of members of the two chat rooms

Jan 16, 17
Days on which the two chat rooms were created