The Telangana Police on Wednesday arrested 15 individuals, including an IIT graduate, during a statewide crackdown against the circulation of online child sexual exploitative and abuse material (CSEAM).
The operation targeted repeat offenders involved in uploading, storing, and circulating nudes and sexually exploitative videos of minors, mostly appearing to be foreign, in the age group of 6 to 14 years, with 90 per cent of content pertaining to girls, said Shikha Goel, director, Telangana Cyber Security Bureau on Thursday.
The accused are mostly educated and belong to working and middle-class groups, with the IIT graduate working in a reputed company, Goel said. They are in the age group of 19 and 50 years and have been arrested from HyderabadYadagrigutta, Karimnagar, Wargal, Jagitial, and Jagadgigurigutta. They have been booked under section 67b of the it act and section 15 of the posit act.
“The accused are usually part of certain closed social media groups where such content is available for sale and purchase. Browsing content on sites is restricted. But they go on the dark web, where such content is freely accessible. We have so far blocked 220 websites. I want to stress that even browsing such content online is an offence and action will be taken,” she added.
The arrested have been remanded in judicial custody, and an investigation is on to identify the victims, trace the origin of the content, establish the exact role of the accused, and dismantle their criminal networks, Goel added.
The child protection unit of Telangana Police works as the nodal agency for CSEAM-related complaints. It was established within the Telangana Cyber Security Bureau in February 2025 and proactively monitors and acts upon the digital circulation of CSEAM material. Since its formation, in the last four months, the CPU has registered 294 First Information Reports (FIRs) and apprehended 110 accused, as compared to 37 FIRs and 34 arrests during the previous two years.
“Browsing exploitative content involving children is an offence and anyone involved in circulating the same is on our radar. We will definitely track them down and take action. As part of our one-day operation, we focused on repeat offenders,” Goel stated.
