Shifu Sunkriti cult founder held for human trafficking

Founder of 'Shifu Sunkriti' cult Sunil Kulkarni was arrested from south Mumbai in the wee hours today by the crime branch sleuths in connection with alleged human trafficking and obscenity on social media.
He was produced before the court of Metropolitan Magistrate R K Deshpande here, which remanded him in police custody till April 28.
The Bombay High Court yesterday asked the city police to lodge an FIR against Kulkarni.
The HC gave the directions while hearing a plea by a city couple alleging that their two daughters, aged 23 and 21, were ensnared by the cult group Shifu Sunkriti, which operated on social media, and its founder Kulkarni.

Kulkarni told the magisterial court that the girls came to him on their own as their parents used to assault them.
He also requested the court to consider the statements of the girls before passing any order in the matter.

In their petition before the HC, the parents claimed that their daughters had left home early this year allegedly under the influence of Kulkarni and his group.
They claimed that Shifu Sunkriti was a "sex and drug racket" that contacts young girls on Facebook and other social networking sites.
In their petition, the parents also alleged that they approached the police repeatedly since December last year to seek action against the cult group, but in vain.

Kulkarni has been booked under various IPC sections including 370 (trafficking of person), 328 (causing hurt by means of poison), 420 (cheating) and 292 (sale of obscene books), a senior crime branch official said.
He has also been charged under IT Act sections 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and 67(a) (publishing or transmitting in the electronic form any material which contains sexually explicit act or conduct), he said.
Malad Police are investigating the case.