The Central Bureau of Investigation has conducted searches on the premises of a Delhi-based company and its directors in connection with the alleged hosting of websites containing objectionable material pertaining to child sexual abuse.

“The case has been registered against the company, its directors and unknown persons under the Information Technology Act and the POCSO Act. It is alleged that they hosted websites of Russian domain, which contained objectionable material related to child sexual abuse,” said a CBI official.

“The case involves the jurisdictions of India, Netherlands and Russia as of now, vis-à-vis the location of servers, facilitation of hosting of the objectionable material and owner of the contents,” the official said.

Searches at the residence-cum-office of the accused persons have led to seizure of electronic devices and incriminating documents.

The CBI has a special unit, “Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation (OCSAE),” that probes such cases, apart from receiving various references and coordinating with other related agencies.

In October 2019, the agency had booked seven persons who were part of an international WhatsApp group that shared and circulated child pornography. The case was registered on the information received from the German authorities, which had detected an online group of paedophiles.

The German police investigated one Sasche Treppke, who was sentenced to five years of jail for role in the sexual abuse of children and distribution of child pornography. He was a member in 29 WhatsApp groups comprising 483 users.

The CBI had registered another such case in February 2018. The WhatsApp group had 234 users from several countries, including Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Afghanistan, United States, Mexico, New Zealand, China, Nigeria, Brazil and Kenya. It was active for the past two years.

Among the members were 66 from India, 56 from Pakistan and 29 from the United States. The agency also arrested one of the group administrators.