New Delhi, September 24
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) today said in a massive investigative exercise, its personnel have carried out searches at 59 locations across 21 states and a Union Territory in an internationally coordinated law-enforcement crackdown on online circulation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).
Officials in the agency said that there were more than 50 suspects in the country, who are under the agency’s scanner. The searches were spread across Haryana, Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Chhattisgarh among others, the officials said.
The raids, which have been code-named Operation ‘Megh Chakra’, were launched after the agency registered two cases under relevant provisions of the Information Technology Act.
The cases were based on inputs from the Crime Against Children (CAC) unit of Interpol, based in Singapore, which it received from the New Zealand Police, the officials said. The agency is questioning suspects about illicit material found on their electronic devices so as to identify the victims and the abusers, a CBI spokesperson said.
“It was alleged that a number of Indian citizens were involved in circulation/ downloading /transmission of CSAM using cloud-based storage,” the CBI spokesperson said in a statement after the raids were over.
“The information received in Interpol from law enforcement authorities of New Zealand was analysed and developed by the CBI and suspected persons were identified to locate and disrupt further distribution,” the spokesperson said.
The operation is targeted at cloud storage — hence the codename ‘Megh Chakra’ — used by the peddlers to circulate audio-visual material on illicit sexual activities with minors, the officials said.
The officials said that the CBI, which was the first law-enforcement agency in India to set up a cyber crime unit, has hit CSAM peddlers across India in the operation.
A large number of electronic devices including mobile phones, laptops belonging to more than 50 suspects were seized during the raids.
Operation ‘Megh Chakra’
CBI officials said there were more than 50 suspects in the countryThe searches were spread across 21 states and a Union TerritoryThe raids have been code-named Operation ‘Megh Chakra’The operation was launched after the agency registered two cases under the IT Act
