First Arrest In Case of Men Who Filmed, Posted Rape Videos on WhatsApp

A man from Odisha wanted for raping a woman and posting the video on WhatsApp has been arrested by the CBI and brought to Delhi today.

Subrata Sahu, a builder from Bhubaneswar, was among a group of men being searched for after activist Sunitha Krishnan began the "Shame the Rapist" campaign a few weeks ago - she alerted the union government to the fact that videos of rapes were being circulated by a group of men who had not been identified or arrested. The men posed happily for cellphone cameras, she pointed out, and though the videos were being shared on social media, neither the government nor the police had taken any action against them.

Ms Krishnan is a rape survivor who runs an NGO in Hyderabad. Late in February, the Supreme Court acted suo moto, or of its own accord, took notice of her campaign, and ordered the CBI to investigate the case.

Mr Sahu, the man brought to Delhi, raped his receptionist in 2010, said the CBI in court today; he allegedly circulated the video on WhatsApp a year later.

Eight cases have been filed by the CBI since the Supreme Court assigned it the investigation. Investigators say their task is complicated because none of the women seen in the different videos have filed police cases. Based on the languages spoken in the different videos, the suspects are believed to belong to Punjab, West Bengal, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh.