Bengaluru: Transit warrant to take alleged porn kingpin to Delhi

Updated

Bengaluru, May 15 (IANS): A special CBI court on Friday permitted the agency to take porn accused Kaushik Kounar to Delhi on a four-day transit warrant to crack the case related to uploading of obscene videos on social networking sites.

"We are taking him (Kounar) to Delhi and Sitapur in Uttar Pradesh to interrogate him for information on other accused in the porn case," a CBI official told IANS here.

Preliminary inquiry of 30-year-old Kounar after his arrest here on Friday revealed he is a native of Odisha and has been living in the city since January 2013 as a driver and learnt using computers, internet, video camera and social media like Facebook and Whatapp for various activities.

On the Supreme Court's February 27 directive, the CBI registered a case against the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Information Technology Act, 2000 at Kotwali police station in Sitapur district.

"Keeping a tab on Kounar and his movements, our sleuths were able to trace him and locate his rented home to trap him," revealed the official who was speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Suspected to be a part of a larger gang that lured innocent women, especially teenage girls into sleaze, Kounar is alleged to have been involved in editing sex videos of women and uploading them on the internet for huge sums of money.

"We have recovered about 500 porn clips, secret cameras, editing software and other equipment, used in making video films from the bulk footage Kounar's accomplices would send him by e-mail or through courier," the official noted.

The investigation agency used cyber forensics software and interface with multiple internet service providers to ascertain the identity of persons who uploaded the sex videos on the net.

The apex court ordered a CBI inquiry into two rape cases flagged by Sunitha Krishnan, who runs anti-trafficking NGO Prajwala in Hyderabad.

Taking a suo motu cognisance of a letter Krishnan wrote to the top court after police failed to take action on her complaint, the special social justice bench of Justice Madan B Lokur and Jutice U.U. Lalit ordered the CBI to probe into the circulation of porn videos on popular messaging services and hosting them on social media sites.

Kounar was trapped here as digital evidence exhibits used in uploading the video clips on the internet was discovered and recovered from his possession.

CBI sleuths raided Kaushik's residence after tracing the IP address to the city from where the rape clips were uploaded.

Earlier Report

CBI arrests alleged porn kingpin in Bengaluru, over 500 obscene clips found

Bengaluru, May 15 (PTI): CBI on Thursday arrested an alleged porn kingpin from Bengaluru in connection with its probe into obscene MMS clips being circulated on social messaging platforms.

CBI sources said Kaushik Kuonar was arrested during a search operation in the evening as part of a probe which was undertaken upon directions from Supreme Court. Over 500 secretly shot porn clips of gullible girls in compromising positions were found by the agency during the search.

Supreme Court had taken suo-motu cognisance of a letter sent by a Hyderabad-based NGO to Chief Justice of India HL Dattu along with a pen drive containing nine clips.

The apex court had then ordered a CBI probe into the issue. In none of the cases was it clear as to what was the time and place of crime or the identity of the victim and offenders appearing in the video, thereby leaving the agency to hunt in dark.

The agency used sophisticated forensic software to track the origins of these video messages which went viral on social messaging platform. Three of the nine clips given to the agency were traced to Kuonar. In connection with one clip, the agency has already arrested two persons from Odisha.

The sources said that during searches today, the CBI team was surprised to find high-end editing software, stealth cameras and other equipment which was allegedly being used for creating these videos.

They said the suspect belongs to a well-to-do family living in an affluent locality. The sources said he had allegedly made a profession out of creating such titillating videos of girls which he posted on the Internet.

"Every click or every visit (to a webpage) for viewing these clips would apparently reward him with money," an official told PTI while giving details of the initial questioning.

The sources said he would be brought to Delhi for further interrogation.

Besides this case, the agency has registered six FIRs of alleged gangrape and one FIR of rape while a Preliminary Enquiry has also been registered.

While the FIRs related to gangrape and rape, the agency has also invoked sections of abduction.