PORT BLAIR: Andaman and Nicobar police have arrested two persons in connection with the Jarawa dance video case.
“Two persons named Rajesh Kumar Vyas, owner of Vyas Bothers, and Sarjeet Singh, a driver, have been arrested for organising a trip to the Jarawa reserves for a foreigner Gethin Chamberlian in lieu of hefty monetary consideration with a promise to contact with the members of the particularly vulnerable tribe, the Jarawas,” said Superintendent of Police of South Andaman S B S Tyagi on Tuesday.
According to the police, Rajesh had asked his friend Sarjeet, who is the owner of a Tata Sumo, to take the foreigner for a trip to Jarawa reserve in December 2011, and to ensure contact with the primitive tribe.
“When the promised contact with the Jarawas didn’t materialise due to the heavily regulated traffic, the accused had alleged to have transferred the video of Jarawa women dancing to the foreigner using his mobile phone via Bluetooth,” the SP claimed.
According to the police, the accused people lured the foreigner and took money (approximately `25,000) on the pretext of bribing the policemen. “However, the foreigner later turned out to be an undercover reporter of the newspaper, Guardian/Observer, UK, who published his story on the internet. After sustained interrogation, Rajesh and Sarjeet admitted to the crime,” the SP added.
Tyagi said Rajesh was also confronted with the audio clip uploaded by Gethin on the Internet which contains his conversation regarding the trip.
“Rajesh admitted that it was his voice on the audio. The audio clip is being sent for forensic examination. The accused persons organised the trip to the Jarawa reserves for a foreigner, which amounts to intentionally insulting with the intent to humiliate a vulnerable primitive tribe of these islands,” he added. Both the accused were arrested on Monday.
“The investigation is further underway to nab the unknown culprits who shot the video of Jarawa women dancing for food. Some definite leads have come up during the course of investigation. All out efforts are being made trace out the culprits involved in this deplorable act,” Tyagi added.