Madhya Pradesh cops bust child porn WhatsApp group

BHOPAL: The cyber cell of Madhya Pradesh police has busted a WhatsApp group circulating child pornography clips among its 250-plus members from 28 countries, including four from Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

The three men arrested in the case in Madhya Pradesh are from Dhar district, which adjoins the state’s technology and economic capital, Indore, which has of late reported several cases of sexual assault on minors.

The arrested trio includes a 17-year-old Class XII student, 24-year-old engineering graduate Makarand Salunke, who works in a premier company in the Pithampur Industrial Area, and a utensil seller-turned-part-time TV channel journalist, Omkar Rathore, 43, inspector general of police (IG-Intelligence) of MP police at state PHQ, Makarand Deouskar, said on Tuesday.

According to cyber cell sleuths in Indore who carried out the operation last week, the WhatsApp group was first known as Kids Sex Video Only, but later its name changed to Child Porn Only. “It’s group administration was a Kuwaiti national and 131-plus members of the group were Indians, while 80-plus were Pakistani nationals,” said a cyber cell officer.