LUCKNOW: In a development in the case of sexual abuse of children by the junior engineer of the state irrigation department, the CBI on Monday arrested Durgawati, wife of the accused, for threatening parents of victim children.
As per the CBI sources, Durgawati was sent to 14-day-judicial custody.
Accused Ram Bhawan, 40, has been languishing in Banda jail since mid–November.
As per the highly-placed sources, Durgawati had allegedly been threatening the parents of the children, who had fallen prey to her husband, not to depose before the CBI in connection with the case.
Bhawan was arrested on November 17 by the CBI for sexually abusing over 50 children and peddling their videos and photographs on the dark web to paedophiles across the world.
During the probe, it came to the fore that Durgawati was hand in gloves with her husband in the act of sexual exploitation of the children, said the CBI sources, adding that Durgawati would be charged with criminal conspiracy and abetment to the crime.
“She had been instrumental in wooing the children and trapping the kids to bring them to her husband,” claimed a CBI source. It further said that the evidence pointing to her involvement in the crime was also secured by the probe agency.
Meanwhile, the plea by the CBI for taking Bhawan to the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) for psychological tests and to Central Forensic Science Laboratory for voice sample examination is pending before the local court.
The accused JE lived at a rented house where he used to first lure and bring a child one at a time on account of playing video games and used to exploit him. Then he used to lure them with sweets, toffees, and also cash to tempt them for visiting him while keeping it under the wraps and not disclosing it to
others or their parents.