CBI busts WhatsApp child porn racket

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 22

The CBI has unearthed an international child porn racket with the arrest of an unemployed youth from Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. The accused, along with four others, two from Delhi, had been uploading child abuse porn videos on a WhatsApp group for the past two years.

The youth, Nikhil Verma (20), son of a jewellery shop worker, who is pursuing graduation in commerce, was arrested from Kannauj. The others being questioned are Satyendra Om Prakash Chauhan from Mumbai; Nafees Reza and Zahid from Delhi; and Adarsh from Noida.

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They have been booked under Section 67-B (publishing or transmitting material depicting children in sexually explicit act in electronic form) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, and  provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) the CBI said.

The agency said Nikhil was the administrator of WhatsApp group “KidsXXX” while the others were active members who allegedly uploaded child abuse videos.

The group also had members from the US, China, New Zealand, Mexico, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Brazil, Syria, Nigeria and Sri Lanka. The CBI through the Union Government has sent the mobile numbers of the suspects to the respective governments. The CBI spokesperson said showing, uploading, downloading, watching and sharing such pornographic videos was a serious offence under the I-T Act and attracted a punishment up to seven years and a fine of Rs 10 lakh.

He also said Nikhil would be brought to Delhi after completing legal formalities for questioning.

Agency sources said the sleuths would investigate the modus operandi, the purpose of running the group and the people involved in the racket. The sources further said the group currently had 219 members. The agency worked for nearly three months, without using WhatsApp surveillance, to track down the accused, the sources said. Background checks and behavioural analysis was done by the agency based on local inputs of the suspects before proceeding to act against them, they said.

(With agency inputs)