Three ‘actors’ arrested for filming porn, live streaming content online

Three people were arrested for filming and live-streaming pornographic content on a subscription-based app called Pihu. The app has been removed from stores.

MUMBAI: Three people were arrested on Sunday for filming and live-streaming pornographic content on a subscription-based app called Pihu which is similar to the OnlyFans platform where users pay for private content uploaded by creators with a monthly subscription.

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According to Versova police officials, the arrested accused, two women aged 20 and 34 respectively and a man aged 27 were found to be filming and uploading content on the app where users could book audio or video calls with the women.

The police said they had learnt about the app through local informants as lots of streams were being shot from Andheri West a couple of weeks ago. They had been waiting for an opportunity to raid one of the premises during an ongoing shoot at a bungalow in Four Bungalows, Andheri West which came on Sunday.

The three people found during the raid were later arrested. While these were just ‘actors’, the police are still on the lookout for the owners and operators of the app.

“The app would inform its users of their streaming schedule through direct messages on Instagram. The users had to buy in-app coins that could be redeemed for watching the streamed content. Services like audio and video calls were also provided by the women who had their profiles on the app,” said an official from Versova police.

Payments made by users included a registration fee of ₹7,500. They needed a pay-per-view in advance for watching the streams and separately for the calls. “The payments were only done digitally through purchase of the coins. Once a consumer had access to the app, they could also sift through profiles of different women. The women would usually put some promotional videos on their profiles through which the users could approach them. Most of the streams were accompanied by live commentary,” explained the officer.

The app has now been removed from the Google Play store as well as the Apple store.

The three people arrested were booked under sections 292 (selling or public distribution of obscene content), 293 (selling or distributing obscene content to any person under the age of twenty years) of the Indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

“All the accused are currently in our custody. We are now tracking the accounts where the money paid by the users was deposited. We are also looking at many other angles of the case, specifically the people running and profiting from it and whether any of the women were coerced into doing the acts,” said an official.