Sharaf Ali had four groups on Telegram which had almost 5,000 followers.
Highlights
- Sharaf Ali, 24, arrested for allegedly running child porn network
- Ali's groups had thousands of followers, ran for at least 2 years: Police
- Members even debated age of children to be featured, they say
A video of a four-year-old girl being raped by two men, nude photographs of an eight-year-old girl clicked and posted along with a message that "the child didn't understand anything but enjoyed the moments and pleasure" by her father - all this and more disturbing content made it to the chat group 'Poombatta' on the Telegram messaging app, where pornographic videos specifically involving children were shared by the users. The group was closed on November 28 after certain details were leaked online.
An aspiring accountant from Kozhikode, 24-year-old Sharaf Ali, who is the main accused, was arrested on Thursday from Kerala's Malappuram for allegedly running the chat group as well as 'Naadan Thoond', an online porn channel. Six others have been identified and will be arrested soon, the police told NDTV.
According to the Malappuram police, besides the channel, Ali had four groups on Telegram with almost 5,000 followers, where followers would be included only with permission from the admin, but could contribute videos. Whereas only the admin could upload videos on Naadan Thoond, which translates as 'desi porn'.
"Pinning down all 5,000 users is difficult as the Telegram chat site is fully encrypted. But we have arrested one, identified six others. We could arrest the one person because of his activities even beyond the traditional chat platform," said police sources.
NDTV has accessed the videos and conversations that were exchanged on the Malayalis-only group 'Poombatta', which the police suspect to be at least two years old.
"They debated the target age of the children on the group. One of the members suggested that videos of children between one and three years of age should be featured because they do not remember things. But the admin was particular that children only between the age of 4 and 15 should be featured," said Jaljith Thottolil, a medical transcriptionist, who filed a complaint last month.
He along with his friend Binu Phalgunan joined the group after gaining the admin's trust. They collected evidence, provided details to the police and got the main accused arrested.