Operation Megh Chakra: 50 under CBI scanner over child pornography

• The CBI recently conducted searches across 20 States and 1 UT, as part of a pan-India drive against the circulation and sharing of child sexual abuse material.
• The operation code was named “Megh Chakra”.

The search

• Over 50 persons have come under the scanner.
• The searches were carried out in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Goa, Karnataka, Telangana and Tamil Nadu.
• A preliminary scrutiny of the devices using cyberforensic tools allegedly revealed that a huge quantity of child pornography material was stored in them.

Operation Carbon

• Last November, the agency had launched a similar exercise code-named “Operation Carbon”.
• In it, the premises of suspects in 13 States and one UT were searched.
• Conducted at 76 locations.
• The persons named in the FIRs were booked under the relevant provisions of the IPC and the Information Technology Act.

Prelims Takeaway

• Operation Megh Chakra
• Operation Carbon