New Delhi: CBI has arrested a man from Hisar, Haryana, in connection with a case of sexual assault and exploitation of minor girls. The accused, identified as Somnath, allegedly raped multiple children and shared child sexual abuse material (CSAM) online, the agency said.CBI detected the instance of child sexual abuse on its own. Until the registration of the case, the survivors or their families had not reported the crimes to any law enforcement agency. The agency detected the objectionable material uploaded by the accused through Interpol’s database and corroborated it with the cyber tipline reports generated by Google. “The analysis of the images and videos using cyber forensic tools revealed the location of the incidents as Hisar in Haryana, depicting multiple victims of sexual assault and abuse by the accused,” CBI spokesperson Beena Yadav said. The agency proceeded with caution, speaking to the families through counsellors. An FIR was registered, and the accused booked for creating, browsing, collecting, possessing, exchanging and uploading CSAM. The FIR accused Somnath of depicting children in sexual acts in electronic form, besides storing pornographic material involving children.“Searches were conducted by CBI at the residential premises of the accused on June 3, which led to the recovery of incriminating electronic gadgets as well as the identification of multiple victim children who were raped, sexually assaulted, threatened and used for pornographic purposes over the past few years,” the spokesperson added. The accused, who has a physical disability, was arrested the same day and produced in court. In 2019, the agency set up an online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/Investigation Unit in New Delhi under its Special Crime Zone. The agency has since launched multiple drives to dismantle international networks and people involved in online child sexual exploitation.Operation Carbon in 2021, Op Megh Chakra in 2022, and, most recently, Op Hawk were conducted as part of its effort of rapid response to online child sexual exploitation cases with international linkages, and to trace accused, suspects and conspirators across international jurisdictions, requiring a globally coordinated law enforcement response. The International Child Sexual Exploitation database has been instrumental in identifying over 42,000 victims and 18,000 abusers worldwide, with India playing a key role. Last month, the agency caught two suspects who were using Discord to exploit minor girls from the US, inducing and intimidating them to share obscene content.
