Video of another hostel inmate found in one of the accused's phone

Chandigath: The mystery surrounding the MMS leak case in Chandigarh University, a private institute based in Punjab’s Mohali district, has deepened.

Both Mohali police and the defence lawyer confirmed that a video of another girl in the hostel washroom has been found in the mobile phone of one of the male accused in this case.

The mobile handsets of all three accused arrested so far have been sent for forensic analysis for possible retrieval of some data as it was believed that some videos and photos were deleted from their phones.

Even as advocate Sandeep Sharma, representing the female accused, said that the said video was not objectionable in nature, this raises a question that there was more to this case than the initial police theory as well as claims of university authorities that the accused girl had made her own video only and there was no other video of anyone else.

The matter came to light on Saturday after a massive protest at the university campus hours after it was alleged that a girl inmate recorded the objectionable videos of several girl students and sent them to her mall friend based in Shimla.

As the matter got media traction and began trending on social media, police swung into action. After arresting the girl, it also took into custody her friend Sunny and their mutual friend, who too is alleged to have in possession some objectionable videos.

All three accused belong to Shimla district in Himachal Pradesh. The accused girl, as per the sources in the police, knew the accused before joining the university.

Sharma told NewsDrum that the video of another girl was found in Sunny’s mobile phone, although it was not objectionable in nature.

He claimed that his client, the accused girl, was the victim in this case. She was being blackmailed by other accused. “The police investigation is also going in this direction,” claimed Sharma.

On the other hand, the police claimed that the roles of all three accused are under investigation. Police on Monday got their custody till September 26.

Based on the interrogation so far, the police are looking for a fourth person, who it believed, too had a dubious role in this case, said sources. The police apprehended a person from Punjab but no fresh arrest has been shown so far.

What does the FIR say?

As per the FIR, the matter came to light when some girls saw the accused female inmate making videos in the washroom of the girl's hostel. The girl was then taken to Ritu Ranaut, (Dean Student Welfare of Chandigarh University) and the main complainant in this case.

In her statement to the police, Ranaut stated that when she checked the girl's phone, videos and photos were found deleted.

Ranaut further stated that when the girl was being questioned about the incident, at that time calls and messages were coming on her mobile continuously. Then we asked her to turn on the speaker of the phone and talk. There was some male voice on the other side of the call. During the call, we asked her to tell him to share videos or pictures if he had any.”

“The boy sent a screenshot of a pornographic video after which the girl admitted to the wrongdoing,” Ranaut said in her complaint in FIR while demanding strict action against the said girl.

As per the FIR, the girl and two others have been booked under section 354 of the Indian Penal Code and section 66 of IT Act, 2000.