Child sex abuse videos auctioned on Telegram, Meerut man on the run: How police unravelled case

AWire line named ‘Lucifer’, payments charles frederick worth thousands, and a catalog of obscene videos — this is what law of multiple states found when they unearthed an alleged online marketplace for child sexual abuse material.A resident of Meerut’s Bagpat Gate, identified as Amit Jain, is the man at the centre of the allegations and has been accused of operating a sophisticated digital storefront, Hindustan Times reported earlier.How deals were madeAccording to police, the operations of the marketplace were done in a sophisticated manner, where buyers would go through the available content, followed by price negotiations. After this, the content would be auctioned and some videos were even sold for lakhs of rupees.Also read: First photo: Luthra brothers arrested on arrival in Delhi after Thailand deportationHow the case unravelledThe operations of the Telegram channel transcended state borders as police of multiple states were involved in its unearthing. It started earlier this year in September when Dehradun Police had discovered some links to obscene content on a cyber portal, following which, the digital trail led to the main accused Amit Jain, said the circle officer (CO) of Meerut’s Brahmpuri, Soumya Asthana.After Jain’s name came up in the investigation, Brahmpuri police registered an FIR against him and launched a manhunt. However, Jain is currently underground and his phone is switched off. The officer also revealed that proofs of multiple transactions have also surfaced in the investigation which is being conducted by cyber teams jointly.The police also discovered chats from the Telegram channel where the deals would be made which show price negotiations between the main accused and the buyers. “The accused claimed these were original videos and conducted several deals through the account,” Asthana said.Tamil Nadu also traced a transaction to one of Jain’s bank accounts about a month ago of around ₹20,000 as payment for some videos sold there. Following this, the bank account was frozen. The Telegram channel through which the deals were being carried out has also been suspended while the police continue to work to dismantle what appears to be an organised operation exploiting minors for profit, the HT report said. Through preliminary probe, the findings point that Jain was not alone in operating the channel and the deals and that he had associates managing his social media accounts.