New Delhi, June 21 (IANS) A serial sexual assaulter of minors was arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) from Uttar Pradesh’s Mathura, an official said on Saturday.

Shyam Bihari, a resident of Chhata, Mathura, was arrested after electronic evidence collected by the federal agency confirmed his involvement in the offences against minor victims in and around Mathura.

The official said a case was registered suo moto on June 17 against the accused on serious allegations, including the creation, collection, storage, and uploading of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) depicting minors in explicit sexual acts.

The accused was also in possession of pornographic content involving children, in violation of the law.

On Thursday, searches were conducted at the residential premises of Bihari, resulting in the seizure of incriminating electronic devices. Subsequent forensic analysis uncovered a substantial volume of CSAM in the form of images and videos, said an official statement.

These materials were corroborated with data from Interpol’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database, as well as Cyber Tipline Reports (CTRs) generated by Google and shared with the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C), Ministry of Home Affairs, it said.

Investigation and analysis of electronic devices revealed the electronic content depicting minor children being raped, sexually assaulted, sexually harassed, threatened and their obscene photographs were taken by the accused in Mathura.

After narrowing down on the culprit, the CBI launched a coordinated effort to identify and rescue the minor victims.

The case was uncovered by the CBI through its proactive investigation, as neither the victims nor their families had reported the incidents to any law enforcement agency prior to the CBI’s intervention.

The case highlights the proactive use of cyber intelligence, hi-tech forensic tools, and international cooperation among various stakeholders in identifying and rescuing victims of such heinous crimes, said a CBI official, reiterating the federal agency’s commitment to bringing perpetrators of child sexual abuse to justice.

–IANS

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