CBI files charge sheet against Tamil Nadu PhD scholar arrested for sexually exploiting children

New Delhi: The CBI has filed a charge sheet against a 35-year-old PhD scholar from Tamil Nadu who was arrested for allegedly sexually exploiting eight children aged between 5 and 18, and selling explicit videos of these acts on the internet, officials said.

In its charge sheet filed recently before a POCSO (Protection of Children From Sexual Offences) court in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur, the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has alleged that the accused, Victor James Raja, was sexually abusing a child for the last four years.

"It was further alleged that the accused forced victims to perform penetrative sexual acts on them as well as on other minor children, including a minor victim girl; clicked photographs and recorded videos; forced them to watch sexual acts with other adult person; threatened them with publishing the pictures and video on social media and for bringing more minor girls," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement on Friday.

The CBI had uncovered his sleazy crimes when it found Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images and videos from the Interpol's International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database.

The forensic analysis using specialised tools led the CBI to Thanjavur district.

"Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused which led to recovery of incriminating electronic gadgets. The accused was arrested and is in judicial custody," the statement said.

During the investigation, the CBI found that Raja had sexually assaulted eight children, both boys and girls, between the age of 5 and 18 for a couple of years.

It was alleged that in most cases, he targeted children aged below 12, forcing them to perform sexual acts with other children and using them for pornography, the CBI said.