Chitrakoot to Belgium: How a dark web trail exposed a decade of child sexual abuse
- Himanshi DhawanSneha Bhura
- TNNUpdated: Feb 28, 2026, 20:06 IST IST
A two-second video clip exposed one of India’s most disturbing child sexual abuse cases. The grainy footage showed a bald man adjusting a laptop camera, before revealing a minor boy lying on a bed. When CBI DSP Amit Kumar froze the frame, he knew he had found a critical lead.
The footage originated far from Uttar Pradesh. In Belgium, police arresting a drunk driver recovered a pen drive containing thousands of child sexual abuse videos. Some had Hindi audio. The files were sent to Interpol and then to India’s CBI, landing on Kumar’s desk. His team, part of a newly-formed unit fighting online child exploitation, spent months tracing IP addresses. They pinpointed a rented home in UP’s Karwi in Chitrakoot district, occupied by junior engineer Ram Bhawan and his wife, Durgawati.
The footage originated far from Uttar Pradesh. In Belgium, police arresting a drunk driver recovered a pen drive containing thousands of child sexual abuse videos. Some had Hindi audio. The files were sent to Interpol and then to India’s CBI, landing on Kumar’s desk. His team, part of a newly-formed unit fighting online child exploitation, spent months tracing IP addresses. They pinpointed a rented home in UP’s Karwi in Chitrakoot district, occupied by junior engineer Ram Bhawan and his wife, Durgawati.
