Officials at the Dayanand Sagar College of Engineering in Bengaluru sought to distance themselves from the investigation into one of their students, Vishal Kumar Jha, who was arrested by the Mumbai police this week in connection with the 'Bulli Bai' app case.
An official in the college management confirmed to TNM that Vishal Kumar Jha was a 2nd year civil engineering student in the college in Bengaluru. However, the official did not want to encourage connections between the college and the investigation against Vishal. "We don't want our college name dragged into this. Unless it's proved, let us not bring certain things into the picture. We are currently not looking at taking any action internally," said the official.
Vishal was attending classes in the 2nd year in the college from October 4. "Our interactions with him are very limited and he was attending the 3rd semester classes from October 4. He was a day-scholar and had less than minimum attendance in our records. He was quiet and had no disciplinary issues in our college," said the official.
The official said that the college got to know about the investigation when Mumbai police turned up on January 3 looking for Vishal when he was attending classes. "We came to know about the investigation against him when the police came to the college on January 3 and asked for him. We don't want to disturb the investigation and spoil the candidate's future," said the official.
According to the official, the investigation against Vishal did not relate to his academics. "We didn't have much correspondence with him," said the official.
Vishal is among the people currently being investigated by the Mumbai police in connection with the Bulli Bai app, which was created on January 1. The app had posted personal details including photographs of scores of Muslim women with an intention to 'auction' them virtually.
The Mumbai police booked a case against the developers of the app and Twitter handles that promoted the app under sections 354-D (stalking of women), 500 (Punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and other sections of the Information Technology Act. 21-year-old Vishal was the first arrest made in the case. Subsequently, two others Shweta Singh, 18, and Mayank Rawal, 21, were arrested from Uttarakhand.