Mumbai police Special Investigation Team (SIT) has summoned former Cricket commentator cum actor Gaurav Kapur and Radio Jockey Roshan Abbas in context to the fake follower racket case.
“Mumbai Police SIT has verified 25 people till now. A few of them have recorded their statements as witnesses in this case as of now,” said Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Nandkumar Thakur, Crime Branch. He further stated that they will not disclose the names of the people as this may hamper the investigation.
Chtrbox Digital Company owner, Pranay Swarup was recalled by the Mumbai police again which he has refused to. He mentioned that he is not having the documents that police has asked for and also under staffed in this pandemic COVID-19 outbreak.
Swarup was questioned by Mumbai police on Saturday under section 160 of CrPC. He has handed over the list of the mentioned 30,000 clients with their complete profile to the Crime Branch. He is also expected to submit the company’s income for the last four years.
One of the leading social media influencers marketing companies, Chtrbox was accused of leaking 49 million Instagram users’ private data.
Last week Mumbai Joint Commissioner of Police, Vinay Kumar Chaubey has revealed that there are almost 54 firms involved in the racket. One more person, Kashif Mansoor (29), a civil engineer, was arrested in the same case was allegedly selling fake followers and has sold 2.3 fake followers till now.
Earlier this month, Mumbai police had busted a racket that creates fake social media profiles and performs other fraudulent activities in the social media marketing business. The arrest of Abhishek Dinesh Daude revealed that he had been a part of an international fraud racket indulged in creating fake identities on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms.
After the police busted the racket, various Bollywood celebrities, sports personalities, and other high profile builders as many as 176 were alleged of buying fake followers. Last week it was communicated that Priyanka Chopra and Deepika Padukone are also expected to be questioned in the matter as they were among the top 10 celebrities who have maximum bots (fake followers) on Instagram revealed by Institute of Contemporary Music Performance (ICMP).
The social media scam got attention when Bollywood singer Bhumi Trivedi has complained and took police assistance when she found a fake profile with her name.
