New Delhi: The CBI has identified 10 more victims of alleged child sexual abuse by now-suspended Uttar Pradesh Irrigation department junior engineer Ram Bhuwan. The alleged paedophile is also accused of selling the illicit acts with kids on the dark web, officials said. Further expanding its exhaustive probe, the CBI has recorded the statements of these 10 male victims to buttress its charges against Bhuwan. The engineer was arrested along with his wife and a suspected accomplice, CBI officials said.
The identity of the person arrested from the national capital is being kept secret by the CBI. It is understood to be an important link in unravelling the mystery of the 50-year old junior engineer using the dark web to sell child sexual abuse material and making money from it, the probe agency informed.
The agency team has so far identified around 35 victims. It is in the process of identifying others, they said.
The CBI is also working on deciphering digital evidence from recoveries made during searches at the premises of Bhuwan and his suspected accomplice, they said.
The agency had recently filed its charge sheet before a special court in Banda in which the CBI had presented statements of about 25 victims. They are all males between the age of 4-22 years, and the reports of digital evidence collected during searches at the residence of Bhuwan.
The JE was arrested on November 16, 2020 while his wife was taken into custody December 28, 2020. They were arrested by a newly established special CBI unit, which is handling online child sexual abuse, after it started tracking and apprehending paedophiles operating on the internet and busted his alleged activities after trailing him for days, they said.
The accused, a resident of Chitrakoot district in Uttar Pradesh, was arrested from Banda by the Special Unit of the CBI specialising in ‘Online Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation Prevention/ Investigation (OCSAE). Both are in judicial custody.
The 50-year old Bhuwan stands accused of allegedly abusing around 50 children in the age group of 4-16 years. These children belonged to Hamirpur, Banda, Chitrakoot districts in Uttar Pradesh.