Odisha man raped many girls, circulated videos of act on WhatsApp: CBI

Subrat Sahu, the Odisha-based property dealer and builder who was arrested by CBI in connection with multiple rape videos circulated by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, raped not one but many girls, investigation reveals.

Subrat Sahu, the Odisha-based property dealer and builder who was arrested by CBI in connection with multiple rape videos circulated by Hyderabad-based NGO Prajwala, raped not one but many girls, investigation reveals.

Sahu was arrested on March 24 from Bhubaneswar after the Supreme Court ordered CBI to probe videos of rapes or gang rapes uploaded on social networking sites, including WhatsApp.

During the investigation, CBI found that several girls had fallen victim to Sahu’s “rape trap”, sources said. CBI has seized several nude video clippings from various hard disks belonging to Sahu and is now trying to ascertain the girls’identities, accomplices who shot the videos and places where the clips were edited.

The CBI took Sahu to New Delhi and got seven-day custody from a court. He had allegedly raped a 24-year-old woman five years ago while an accomplice filmed the act. The video was later circulated on WhatsApp.

Sahu’s case was one of the two incidents highlighted in February this year by a Hyderabad-based NGO, through its head and noted anti-trafficking activist Sunitha Krishnan. After receiving two rape video clips including one involving Sahu on WhatsApp, Krishnan edited the videos – protecting the victims’ faces and highlighting those of the alleged rapists – and posted them on YouTube in a bid to identify the culprits.

After getting Sahu’s custody, CBI brought him back to Bhubaneswar for further investigation.