BHUBANESWAR/DHENKANAL : A Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) team conducting search in Dhenkanal, as part of the national agency’s country-wide operation against child pornography and exploitation, faced the ire of locals on Tuesday.
Residents of Jubuli Town Colony Sahi of Dhenkanal town gheraoed and heckled the team which was interrogating a youth accused of promoting child pornography. Local police reached the spot on time and rescued the agency members.
Sources said an eight-member CBI team swooped down Jubuli Town Sahi to question Surendra Nayak. The team entered into Nayak’s house and began grilling him from the morning hours till afternoon. Locals who were clueless about identity of the team gathered outside the house and got restless. Upon finding the doors closed from inside for a long time, they barged inside and gheraoed the CBI team besides heckling them.
Town Police, led by Inspector Saubhagya Kumar Swain, however, rushed to the spot and rescued the CBI team from the clutches of the locals. The team members were brought to the police station and later, police helped them detain the accused.
After CBI officers left, the 25-year-old Nayak allegedly confessed before media persons that he got involved in sharing of child pornography and adult content about two months back. He was apparently sharing links of adult websites in various WhatsApp groups. He reportedly received Rs 2,000 from a website for sharing the links of its videos on various social media groups. The CBI officers asked him about active members of the groups and took away his phone.
Police said that CBI has not filed any complaint about the incident. North Central Range DIG Sarthak Sarangi said, the central agency had not informed the local police about their raid. He also ruled out any assault by locals on them.
On the day, the central agency conducted search operations in Jajpur and Bhadrak districts too. At Keutalaguan village under Panikoili police limits in Jajpur district, a five-member team of CBI raided the house of Anil Majhi. The 25-year-old Anil assists his father Anam who deals in fish business.
The central agency carried out a massive search operation spanning across 14 States, including Odisha, and Union Territories in this connection. At least 77 locations related to 23 separate cases which were registered against 83 accused persons on November 14 for their involvement in online child sexual abuse and exploitation came under the search.
During searches, electronic gadgets, mobiles, laptops and other articles were recovered by the CBI. The agency has ascertained that some individuals were involved in the trading of child porn materials and have received financial gain. Preliminary investigation suggests there are more than 50 groups having over 5,000 offenders sharing child sexual abuse materials.
Many of these groups also have foreign nationals as their members. It is initially established that there may be involvement of nationals of around 100 countries spread across various continents, a statement issued by the CBI said. India reported more than 400 per cent increase in cybercrime cases committed against children in 2020 in comparison to 2019. According to National Crime Records Bureau, top five states reporting cyber crimes against children are Uttar Pradesh (170), Karnataka (144), Maharashtra (137), Kerala (107) and Odisha (71).