A junior Uttar Pradesh government employee has been arrested by the CBI on charges of sexually abusing around 50 children over 10 years. He also had shared, sold photographs and videos of child sexual abuse material to paedophiles around the world via the darknet.
The investigating officials said the children who are abused are aged between 5 to 16 years and belong to Banda, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur districts.
Identified as Rambhawan, the accused is a resident of Chitrakoot district. He was caught from neighbouring area Banda, to be produced in courts today. CBI believe others might be involved with him, so they would seek police custody for him.
CBI discovered eight mobile phones, around ₹ 8 lakh in cash, sex toys, a laptop and other digital evidence, including a large volume of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) from the accused house. E-mails found in his laptop indicates that he has been in touch with various others (both Indian and foreign nationals) to share CSAM.
The accused has confessed that he used to bribe the children with mobile phones and other electronic gadgets.
In India, crimes against children have increased more than six times between 2008 and 2018 - from 22,500 recorded cases to 1,41,764 two years ago. According to the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data over 100 children face sexual abuse in India every single day.
Also Read: Ludhiana widow files rape complaint against MLA Simranjit Bains
UP has the second-highest number of child rapes in the country (2,023).
The darknet used by the accused is a hidden network within the internet which is used to exchange and share pornographic content or engage in any other illegal activities.