Rajasthan Police blocks around 15k mobile numbers circulating child sexual abuse material

Jaipur, Rajasthan Police have blocked around 15,326 mobile numbers, nearly 7,800 URLs and profiles and 100 devices allegedly linked to online circulation of child sexual exploitation and abuse material , a senior official said on Monday.

Additional Director General of Police V K Singh said police have received around 25,000 inputs related to such online activities and action is being taken after analysing digital trails.

Cases have been registered at police stations in Churu, Nagaur, Alwar, Khairthal-Tijara, Sikar, Hanumangarh and Chittorgarh based on tipline reports received from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children , he said at a press conference at the police headquarters here.

"Repeated offenders are being identified on the basis of NCMEC tipline reports and cases are being registered against them," Singh said.

He said cyber criminals were using secret and paid groups or channels on platforms such as Telegram and Discord to circulate CSEAM.

"Users join such groups using fake identities and exchange material through direct messages. In some cases, the material is uploaded on Google Drive or other cloud storage services and only links are shared," he said.

Singh said coded words and hashtags were also being used on platforms such as "Instagram and Facebook" to establish contact before conversations were shifted to platforms with less monitoring.

Police said technical analysis of NCMEC reports and digital trails was being used to identify suspected accounts, mobile numbers and devices.

Singh said Rajasthan Police were keeping a close watch on such online networks and coordinating with other state police agencies wherever suspects were found to be operating from outside Rajasthan.

He appealed to people to report such content instead of downloading, storing or sharing it, and warned that possession and circulation of child sexual exploitation material can invite legal action under the POCSO Act, Information Technology Act and other applicable laws.

Such activities can be reported to the nearest police station, cyber helpline 1930 or the National Cyber Crime Reporting Portal, the officer said.

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.