Clubhouse Chat Case: App Blocked Offensive Accounts, Accused Made New Ones

Clubhouse chat case investigating department said that the users were barred from using the audio chat programme (the accused). According to Mumbai police sources, the accused used different identities and targeted the same women. Some women in the chatroom objected to the offensive and profane discussions and reported them.

 Last Monday, authorities in Haryana detained three teenagers: Akash Suyal, 19, Jaishnav Kakkar, 20, and Yash Parashar, 22. According to their interrogation and other technological investigations, they were targeting Muslim women and women who had feminist beliefs. Following that, the accused's IDs were blocked by the service provider. The accused persons then allegedly generated additional user IDs with various names and chatrooms in the complainant's and her friend's identities.

In October and November 2021, the complainant, a city-based I-T professional who had been participating in audio conversations on the Clubhouse about feminism and socialism, discovered that a few people had opened chatrooms in her and her friend's names and were expressing views in vulgar and abusive ways.

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According to a police officer, the accused made remarks about Muslim women in order to stoke tensions between the two populations.

The accused are being interrogated further by the cyber police, but two of them have tested positive for COVID-19. The Court remanded all three defendants to judicial prison on Friday. Suyal and Kakkar, the two sick defendants, were transported to a quarantine centre, while Parashar was sentenced to prison.

Meanwhile, the Mumbai police have summoned Clubhouse India's management. At first, there were two chatrooms. The authorities later learned of three other chatrooms where abusive conversations were taking place, and their recorded snippets were then disseminated on social media platforms. In these chatrooms, several suspects have exchanged highly explicit audio clips.

"We've summoned representatives from Clubhouse India, requesting that they join the inquiry and provide information on the participants and moderators of the five chatrooms. After the first summons was issued on January 27, they were scheduled to join the investigation. We've sent another summons because they didn't show up, "a Mumbai cyber police official said.

The authorities will be able to determine who else made comments about women after Clubhouse provides specifics. According to a cyber police source, the moderators of these chatrooms could face action if it is discovered that they did not take action against the person who made explicit comments about women.

Five more members of certain Clubhouse chatrooms have been identified by the authorities. Because these accused persons live in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, their statements will be recorded via videoconferencing. One of the five accused is a 17-year-old boy from Bihar who created the chatroom with the Ids "Alcoholic.Singh" and "Sellos."

Rahul Kapoor, who was questioned by the Delhi police special cell in the case's second FIR, will also be investigated by the Mumbai cyber police. On the application, Kapoor used the fictitious name Bismillah-Ul Bilal Khan.

A Twitter user named "Jaimine" and an Instagram account named "lotus watch" both posted videos of the Clubhouse chatrooms. Suyal was also using the same ID as the moderator, Kira XD.