Eight accused in the sexual assault case in Maharashtra’s Amravati district were arrested for allegedly exploiting minor girls and uploading obscene videos online, Amravati rural police said on Friday.

Police arrested accused Manav Sugandhe (20), a resident of Wardha but residing at Amravati in a rented apartment, for allegedly providing his apartment to the main accused, Ayan Ahmed Tanveer (19) for sexual exploitation of survivors and later circulation of the videos online.

Also read: Youth held in Maharashtra’s Amravati for circulating obscene clips of women

“The investigation revealed that the videos were shared by Tanveer to his friends, while the girls are from minority communities,” said Amravati Superintendent of Police Vishal Anand, adding that the survivors can contact the female police officers to raise a complaint.

Police said that Tanveer later forwarded the obscene videos and photos to his friend Ujer Khan Iqbal Khan (20), and he shared these videos with Saad Sabir (22). He further shared the videos with Tabrez Khan, Taslim Khan (24), Alfaz Khan, Manjur Khan (26), and Imran Mohd. Sajid (21), and Sheikh Naved Sheikh Hasan (21).

The case has been registered at Paratwada police station on April 13 against Tanveer under Section 294 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Sections 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), along with Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act. The court has granted police custody of four accused, including Tanveer, till April 21.

The State government has appointed an independent Special Investigation Team (SIT) to investigate the case that came to light after the objectionable videos of girls went viral in Paratwada, which is 180 km from Nagpur district, the hometown of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Politicians, including BJP leader Navneet Rana, have sought to give the issue a communal colour. Ms. Rana called it “a case of love jihad”. However, the videos accessed by The Hindu show that the survivors also belong to the Muslim community. Besides, several Muslim community leaders based in Amravati have also demanded that strict action be taken against the accused, including Mr. Tanveer. Qazi Myasuddin, the head qazi of the community in Achalpur town in the district, has also issued a letter appealing to serve justice to minor girls who became victims of the accused.

According to Amravati police, they have seized the mobile phone belonging to the accused. They recovered 18 videos and 39 photos of eight survivors. These media files were also available on social media.

Amid the ongoing investigation of sexual assault accused and self-styled godman Ashok Kharat in Nashik district, this is another instance of several videos appearing online of sexual crimes. Police took cognisance of the matter after receiving information about the viral videos on April 11.

According to police, most of the survivors in the videos are minors. While they are trying to trace the survivors and their families, none of them have come forward to lodge a complaint.

In a statement on April 13, police appealed to the survivors to come forward and give a statement in the case. “The utmost care will be taken to ensure that the identity of any survivor is not revealed,” the police had said.

According to police, the five seized mobile phones were sent to the Forensic Science Laboratory for the recovery of deleted data. A house search of all the accused has been conducted, and a laptop, a tablet, and a hard disc have been seized from the house of accused Aifaz Khan, which will be sent to FSL for analysis soon.

Maharashtra State Minorities Commission chairperson Pyare Khan has also taken cognisance of the matter, saying, “Muslim girls are also among the victims and a team of the commission has been sent to visit Paratwada and investigate the matter.”