Two teens arrested for circulating obscene clips of a 16-year-old on WhatsApp

The police will also investigate whether the accused got any financial benefits by sharing the video of the victim and whether they have done this before.

August 12, 2024

Two teenagers have been arrested by the Virar police for allegedly sharing an obscene video of a minor girl on social media. This incident came to light after the victim’s father approached the police on July 8.

A police officer said the complainant claimed that an obscene video of his 16-year-old daughter had been circulating on WhatsApp. Considering the seriousness of the situation, they quickly filed an FIR.

With the help of technical investigations, the police found that the video circulating on WhatsApp had originated from a Snapchat account hudson01199.

However, the police couldn’t identify the suspect and hence they wrote to MBVV Cyber Cell for assistance. The cyber cell then wrote a letter to the Snapchat team in the USA. With the information provided by Snapchat in America, the suspect was found in Nallasopara, the police added.

The alleged suspect has been identified as Ian Inas Dimonti (19). On August 10, he was apprehended from Gasgoan in Nallasopara.

In police custody, Dimonti revealed that he had Andrich Oscar Figer, who is also 19-years-old, as an accomplice to the crime and the police also arrested him. They both are degree college students pursuing education in commerce.

During the investigation it was revealed that Dimonti had befriended the minor.

The accused had lured the victim by claiming he wanted to have a relationship with her. He asked her to undress and send the video to him. The girl had obliged. The alleged incident took place sometime in June.

As a view-once feature is integral to Snapchat and attempting to save the video or capture the screen would alert the sender, Dimonti allegedly used another phone to record the screen and shared the obscene video in WhatsApp groups.

The police are investigating whether the accused had shared videos of other victims. The minor girl’s father was alerted about the video circulating in WhatsApp groups by his friend.

The police will also investigate whether the accused got any financial benefits by sharing the video of the victim and whether they have done this before.

They also stated that investigating the case, the suspects don’t have any criminal antecedents. A FIR had been registered under section 354 (outraging the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and under the relevant sections of POCSO Act 2012. The section of IPC has been invoked as the alleged offense had taken place prior to BNS had come into effect.