An engineer, Ram Bhuvan Yadav, and his wife, Durgawati, have been arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), India, in Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department in the latest incident of child porn involving the dark web.
The CBI has not given a formal reason for Durgawati’s arrest, but sources with knowledge of the matter have indicated that she was allegedly influencing key witnesses in the case.
Before his arrest, Yadav allegedly exploited as much as 50 male children, all in the districts of Chitrakoot, Banda and Hamirpur for over ten years and he sold the recordings of child sex on the dark web, they said.
After his arrest for child porn Yadav was suspended from work. It is believed, Yadav told the investigators that he was preying on children aged between 5 and 16.
He would buy them mobile phones and other electronic gadgets to keep them silent.
Yadav was able to stay away from stay away from the radar of investigating agencies due to his method of operation.
A special CBI unit has been established to handle child trafficking and online child sex abuse. The unit called ‘Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation’ (OCSAE) , has started tracking and apprehending pedophiles operating child porn on the dark web and busted Yadav activities after investigating him.
Yadav, who is a resident of Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Banda by the Special Unit of the CBI, in November 2020.
CBI statement on suspect arrested for child porn
CBI Press Information Officer R K Gaur had said:
“Apart from the physical abuse of these children, the accused also allegedly recorded their acts using their mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices. It was further alleged that these photographs and video films containing child sexual abuse material were published and transmitted by the accused using the internet,”.