CBI conducts searches in six cities over child pornography

NEWDELHI:The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) on Tuesday raided residences of seven men accused of circulating child pornography videos and images on WhatsApp groups, officials familiar with the development said. The raids were conducted in Delhi, Chennai, Faridabad, Ghaziabad, Howrah and Jaipur, the officials added.

The CBI registered a case against the seven on September 29 after receiving information from Germany about the conviction of one Sasche Treppke there of sexual abuse of children and distribution of child pornography. Treppke was a member of 29 WhatsApp groups that were used to share sexual abuse material. The seven Indians were also the members of these groups and were also sharing such content, according to the CBI’s First Information Report in the case.

The officials cited above said that the agency has recovered some material related to sexual abuse of children from one of the accused in Chennai, Vinoth Kannan. As many as 11 mobile phones, 11 SIM cards, 1 hard disc, 2 SD cards, and a laptop were from the accused, the officials said.

An official familiar with the case said that they are also examining the role of others in the activities of these seven as there could be a larger conspiracy involved.

Publishing, browsing or transmitting child pornography in the electronic form is a punishable crime in India and can lead to five years in prison.

The Centre has made it mandatory for Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to check the circulation of child pornography. It blocks the websites containing extreme Child Sexual Abuse Material based on Interpol’s “Worst-of-list” shared periodically. The list is shared with the Department of Telecommunications, which then directs major ISPs to block child porn websites.