The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a 22-year-old man for allegedly sexually abusing four minor girls, capturing their nude videos and photographs, and uploading them to his Google account. Investigation has revealed that the arrest was made from eastern range of Delhi after Interpol approached the CBI in the case following an intimation from Google about objectionable videos involving minors. On Tuesday, a team of CBI visited the house of the accused along with forensic experts to lift evidence.
A source said the accused has been identified as Shahroz Khan, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Shahbazpur, who works as a tailor in Delhi. During investigation, the CBI seized four videos from his cell phones, which he had allegedly uploaded on obscene websites and so far, found two victims. “He told the investigators he was recording their videos and uploading them to obscene websites to earn money. We are questioning him and trying to find more victims,” the source said.
9/track_1x1.jpg" alt="" width="1px" height="1px" "/>
“The CBI lodged an FIR after they received information that a man was allegedly involved in creating text or digital images, collecting, seeking, browsing, downloading, advertising, promoting, exchanging or distributing material in electronic form depicting children in an obscene or indecent or sexually explicit manner by using various social media platforms and they started their investigation. With the help of technical surveillance, they tracked down his location and made his arrest. They have seized his mobile phones,” a source said.
On the basis of a source of information, the CBI initially lodged an FIR on June 28 under Section 67-B of IT Act for allegedly sharing, downloading, exchanging, distributing material depicting children in sexually explicit acts, etc. in electronic form. But after collecting fresh technical evidence and making his arrest, the CBI has invoked Section 4, 6, 8, 10, 14 and 15 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) in the same FIR on July 6. “His house was sealed by CBI for collection of further evidence,” a source said.
During investigation, the CBI found that the accused came to Delhi in 2017 and started targeting the minor victims of his neighbourhood from 2019. “He was working as a tailor and he lured all the victims on the pretext of taking their measurements, offering chocolates and money,” a source said.
In the 90th Interpol General Assembly hosted by India in New Delhi, a resolution was passed supporting member countries in their efforts to identify and investigate such cases. It recognised that the protection of children is a priority for all the members.