A 19-year-old boy was arrested on the allegations of sexually exploting around 180 minor girls and recording over 350 obscene videos, and his house was bulldozed in Maharashtra's Amaravati district on Wednesday.
The accused was identified as Ayan Ahmed alias Tanveer, a resident of Paratwada in Maharashtra's Amravati district. He was arrested after eight victims came forward and filed their case against Ahmed.
Amravati Rural SP Vishal Anand Singuri said the accused has been booked under the Protection of Children from sexual offences (POCSO) Act and the IT Act. He said that police seized the mobile and electronic devices from the accused and sent them for forensic examinations.
Ahmed allegedly lured several minor girls, recorded them without their consent, shared it on social media, and later blackmailed them. He was also accused of selling these photos and videos on pornographic websites.
The Achalpur Nagar Parishad that bulldozed the Ayan house, saying some portion of the house was unauthorised. The bulldozer action was carried out in heavy police deployment and in the presence of BJP MLA Pravin Tayade.
The police arrested Ayan on Tuesday and remanded him to police custody till April 21.
“The videos were allegedly used to blackmail the girls and force them into prostitution. Some were widely shared online, too and even sold to pornographic sites. The minors were systematically targeted through WhatsApp and Snapchat groups,” a letter submitted by Rajya Sabha MP Anil Bonde to Superintendent of Police (Rural) Vishal Anand stated.
After the videos surfaced on social media, there was a huge public outrage and Achalpur observed a bandh. Maharashtra cyber cell is also probing this case and deleting the videos on various social media sites to protect the identity of the victims.
“In interrogations, many details were revealed that will help to arrest more people involved in this case,” SP Vishal Anand Singuri said, adding the Special Investigation Team (SIT) is looking at the wider angle in this case.