Tirupati man among 83 accused by CBI for circulating child sexual abuse material

Hyderabad: A Tirupati is among the 83 persons accuses by the CBI for publishing and transmitting child sexual exploitation material (CSEM) through various social media platform groups.

In one of the biggest all-India crackdowns on child sexual abuse, the CBI on 16 November conducted a spree of raids at 76 locations across 14 states and UTs. It slapped 23 cases and arrested 83 persons for storing, circulating, and viewing CSEM. Among those arrested is T. Mohan Krishna of Tirupati, Andhra Pradesh.

The CBI received credible information 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 through social media groups. "Such persons are disseminating CSEM by way of sharing links, videos, pictures, texts, posts, and hosting such content on social media groups/platforms and third-party storage/hosting platforms," the CBI said.

The investigating agency received a tip-off that T. Mohan Krishna from Tirupati and other unknown persons are involved in publishing/transmitting CSEM in electronic form. "The accused were downloading, exchanging material in electronic form depicting children in an obscene explicit manner," it further said.

The CBI has registered 23 separate cases against 83 accused persons on allegations related to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The CBI teams conducted raids in Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, UP, Punjab, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, and Madhya Pradesh. The CBI has recovered a number of electronic gadgets. It is revealed that some individuals were involved in trading of CSEM material.

"As per initial information collected there are more than 50 groups having more than 5000 offenders sharing child sexual abuse material. Many of these groups also have involvement of foreign nationals. It is initially learnt that there may be involvement of nationals of around 100 countries spread across various continents. CBI is coordinating with sister agencies through formal and informal channels. Searches and development of further leads is underway" the CBI said in a statement.

The Accused

Sushil Kumar from Najafgarh, Delhi; Rahul and Subham Patel Gautam from Uttar Pradesh; Zuber Ahamad from Delhi; Ankit Kumar from Bihar; Vishu Sharma and Bharat Bhushan from Punjab; Rahul Rana from Madhya Pradesh; Chhatpal Singh Kanwar from Chattisgarh; Gautam Kumar from Patiala; Sandeep Kumar from Haryana; Amir Khan and Deepak Gaur from Rajasthan; Dinesh Velayutham and Krishna from Tamil Nadu; Monoranjan Das and Anil Majhi from Odisha; Anil Kumawat from Jaipur; Pankaj Balwant from Maharastra; and Nek Ram from Himachal Pradesh. The names of other accused are mentioned in the FIR.

A case under section 67-B of the Information Technology Act and section 120-B of the Indian Penal Code was slapped against the 83 accused.

The raids were conducted by CBI's Special Unit "Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation (OCSAE)". This unit deals with matters pertaining to online child sexual abuse and exploitation.