Child porn racket: CBI raids 76 places, nabs seven

CBI sources said there are more than 50 chat groups with over 5,000 members that circulate child pornography and exploitation material. Representation pic

As part of its crack down on child pornography and sexual exploitation material, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) raided 76 locations across India and arrested seven accused on Tuesday. The federal agency carried out raids in 14 states and Union Territories after registering 23 FIRs.

According to CBI, they found out that the accused were indulging in sharing child pornographic and sexual abuse videos on various websites and social media platforms. "A reliable source stated that a syndicate of individuals based in different parts of India and foreign countries is Indulging in circulating, storing and viewing child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) through various social media platforms/groups, including WhatsApp. Such persons are disseminating CSEM by way of sharing and trading links, videos, pictures, texts, posts and hosting such content on social media groups/platforms and third-party storage/hosting platforms," a CBI officer said.

The accused arrested during Tuesday's raids have been identified as Raman Gautam, Sathyender Mittal, both residents of Delhi; Surendra Kumar Naik, resident of Dhenkanal, Odisha; Purushottam Jha, resident of Delhi; Nishant Jain, resident of Noida, Uttar Pradesh; Jitendra Kumar, resident of Jhansi, Uttar Pradesh; and T Mohan Krishna, resident of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

As per initial information, there are more than 50 groups with over 5,000 offenders sharing child sexual abuse material. Many of these groups also have foreign nationals as members. A CBI source said there may be involvement of nationals from around 100 countries. The agency is coordinating with sister agencies through formal and informal channels.