Lucknow, Dec 29 The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested Durgawati, wife of serial child molester Ram Bhawan, for allegedly influencing the witnesses connected to the case.
Ram Bhawan, a resident of Banda district in Uttar Pradesh, is a suspended engineer of the state government and accused of sexually exploiting over 50 children.
Durgawati has been remanded to judicial custody till January 4.
CBI sources said Durgawati was trying to influence and manipulate the prime witnesses in the case against her husband.
It may be recalled that the CBI had arrested Ram Bhawan in November.
A junior engineer of Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, he was held for sexually exploiting minors, recording videos of the act and circulating them on the dark web.
The matter was brought to the notice of the CBI, sometime earlier this year.
A case was then registered against unidentified persons suspected of sexually abusing minors in Banda, Chitrakoot and Hamirpur districts.
The accused was also suspected of recording these heinous crimes using their mobile phones, laptops and other electronic devices.
The CBI, in a statement related to the case, had said, "It was further alleged that these photographs and video films containing child sexual abuse material were published and transmitted by the accused using the facility of internet. It was also alleged that the accused used the dark web for sale, transmission and sharing of such CSAM (Child Sexual Abuse Material) content with other individuals."
The CBI had also conducted searches at the residence of the accused in which they recovered Rs eight lakh in cash along with mobile phones, laptops, web-cameras and other electronic storage devices, including pen drives, memory cards and several sex toys.
The accused allegedly used these electronic items and gadgets to lure as many as 50 children falling in the age group of 5-16 years. He had been sharing this explicit content with clients for over 10 years, according to CBI sources.
"The scrutiny of the emails of the accused has revealed that he was allegedly in constant touch with several individuals (both Indian and foreign nationals) for the purpose of sharing child sexual abuse material. The accused has allegedly created and shared huge quantity of child sexual abuse material, over the years, through the internet using various social media platforms and websites over the dark net," the CBI had said.
( With inputs from IANS )
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