CBI busts Whatsapp-based global child porn racket
New Delhi: The CBI on Thursday registered a case and booked five persons on charges of uploading and circulating child pornography through a Whatsapp group that had 119 members from both India and abroad.
Calling the activity a "global crime," the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) busted the racket on the basis of intelligence inputs.
The members of the group -- KidsXXX -- included members of foreign countries like the US, China, Pakistan and Brazil, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Nigeria, Mexico and New Zealand, besides India.
Administrators of the Whatsapp group were identified as Nikhil Verma, Satyendra Chauhan, Nafees Raja, Zahid, and Adarsh. A case has been filed against them under Section 67-B of the Information Technology Act and the provisions of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO).
One of the administrators, 20-year-old unemployed B.Com graduate Nikhil Verma has been arrested from his hometown Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh, CBI spokesperson Abhishek Dayal said.
The Whatsapp child pornography group had been active for about two years.
The central agency is planning to write to the investigators of the foreign countries concerned, whose members are part of the Whatsapp group.
The CBI official said they are investigating all angles in this case including a well-organized racket shooting children's sexual abuse videos and selling them in the virtual world.
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Another North Goa nightclub sealed; Kejriwal says corruption led to fire tragedy
Panaji (PTI): As part of a crackdown against tourist establishments violating laws and safety norms in the aftermath of the Arpora fire tragedy, Goa authorities on Saturday sealed a renowned club at Vagator and revoked the fire department NOC of another club.
Cafe CO2 Goa, located on a cliff overlooking the Arabian Sea at Vagator beach in North Goa, was sealed. The move came two days after Goya Club, also in Vagator, was shut down for alleged violations of rules.
Elsewhere, campaigning for local body polls, AAP leader Arvind Kejriwal said the fire incident at Birch by Romeo Lane nightclub at Arpora, which claimed 25 lives on December 6, happened because the BJP government in the state was corrupt.
An inspection of Cafe CO2 Goa by a state government-appointed team revealed that the establishment, with a seating capacity of 250, did not possess a no-objection certificate (NOC) of the Fire and Emergency Services Department. The club, which sits atop Ozrant Cliff, also did not have structural stability, the team found.
The Fire and Emergency Services on Saturday also revoked the NOC issued to Diaz Pool Club and Bar at Anjuna as the fire extinguishers installed in the establishment were found to be inadequate, said divisional fire officer Shripad Gawas.
A notice was issued to Nitin Wadhwa, the partner of the club, he said in the order.
Campaigning at Chimbel village near Panaji in support of his party's Zilla Panchayat election candidate, Aam Aadmi Party leader Kejriwal said the nightclub fire at Arpora happened because of the "corruption of the Pramod Sawant-led state government."
"Why this fire incident happened? I read in the newspapers that the nightclub had no occupancy certificate, no building licence, no excise licence, no construction licence or trade licence. The entire club was illegal but still it was going on," he said.
"How could it go on? Couldn't Pramod Sawant or anyone else see it? I was told that hafta (bribe) was being paid," the former Delhi chief minister said.
A person can not work without bribing officials in the coastal state, Kejriwal said, alleging that officers, MLAs and even ministers are accepting bribes.
