CBI raids 59 locations across India against circulation of child sex abuse material

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On Saturday, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) conducted national wide searches at around 59 locations in 21 States and Union Territory in a connection with child sexual abused contents under operation 'Megh Chakra'.

The CBI has registered two cases under relevant provisions of IT Act based on information received from Crime Against Children (CAC), a unit of INTERPOL, Singapore which had received the same from New Zealand police for sharing with the relevant country.

It was alleged that a number of Indian citizens were involved in the circulation/ downloading/ transmission of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) using cloud-based storage.

"The said information received in INTERPOL from law enforcement authorities of New Zealand was analysed and developed by CBI, and suspected persons were identified to locate and disrupt further distribution. Today's crackdown was follow up of massive operation (Operation Carbon) carried out by CBI last year against Online Child Sexual Abuse Material," a statement of CBI official reads.

During searches, electronic devices including mobiles, and laptops belonging to more than 50 suspects have been recovered.

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Preliminary scrutiny of these electronic devices using cyber forensic tools has allegedly revealed the presence of a huge quantity of CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) in a number of electronic devices.

The suspects are being questioned with regard to the CSAM found in their electronic devices, so as to identify the child victims and the abusers.

According to CBI, Operation Megh Chakra is one of the CBI-led global operations in recent times for rapid response to online child sexual exploitation cases with international linkages and organised cyber-enabled financial crimes with victims, accused, suspects, conspirators located across international jurisdictions, requiring a globally coordinated law enforcement response.

Operation Megh Chakra seeks to collate information from various law enforcement agencies within India, engage with relevant law enforcement agencies globally and coordinate closely through INTERPOL channels to combat online child sexual exploitation.

"Coordination meetings were organised with INTERPOL and foreign law enforcement agencies for sharing critical information to dismantle such cybercrime networks" the CBI statement further reads.

Cities where the raid was conducted by CBI:

The raids conducted in Fatehabad(Haryana); Dehradun (Uttarakhand); Kachh(Gujarat); Ghaziabad(Uttar Pradesh); Mursidabad(West Bengal); Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Thane, Nanded, Solapur, Kolahpur & Nagpur (Maharashtra); Ranchi (Jharkhand); Chittoor (Andhra Pradesh); Krishna(Andhra Pradesh); Ram Nagar (Karnataka); Kolar(Karnataka); Faridabad (Haryana); Hathras(Uttar Pradesh); Bengaluru; Kodagu; Raipur (Chhattisgarh); New Delhi; Chelakkara (Kerala); Dindigul (Madurai); Gurdaspur & Hosiarpur(Punjab); Chennai; Dhanbad; Rajkot; Goa; Hyderabad; Ajmer; Jaipur; Cuddalore(Tamil Nadu); Mallapuram (Kerala); Lunavada (Gujarat); Godhra(Gujarat); Guwahati; Dhimaji(Assam); Itanagar(Arunachal Pradesh); Bardhman(West Bengal); Maharajganj(Uttar Pradesh); Saran(Bihar); Bhagalpur(Bihar); Agartala(Tripura); Mandi (Himachal Pradesh).