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Global child pornography and abuse ring busted: Police arrest over 300 paedophiles in 38 countries

OpIndia Staff
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Global child pornography and abuse ring busted: Police arrest over 300 paedophiles in 38 countries

In a massive international operation carried out by law enforcement officials of USA, UK, Germany and South Korea, a dark web platform that allowed paedophiles around the world to upload sickening child abuse videos and made them available to ‘customers’ for cash has been busted.

As per reports, The USA’s Department of Justice yesterday revealed in a press conference that a website named ‘Welcome to Video’, a Bitcoin-based dark web platform that catered to paedophiles worldwide has been taken down and its administrator, a South Koran national named Jong-Woo Son has been arrested.

The Darknet site that was taken down by law enforcement agencies, image made available by the US Department of Justice, via Reuters

As per reports, the ‘Welcome to Video’ site was tracked and was under investigation since March 2018. Working extensively with multiple law enforcement agencies worldwide, investigators have been unmasking the identities of the ‘anonymous users’ and uploaders by tracking server data for each transaction.

As per reports, over 250,000 videos were found on the website under search terms such as “preteen hardcore,” “paedophile” and references to sex involving children as young as 2 and 4 years old.

The videos were stored in a South Korean server by the current administrator Jong-Woo Son and were being made available to users via a secret bitcoin-based network.

The website was first discovered by Britain’s National Crime Agency during its investigation into one of the UK’s most prolific paedophiles, Dr Matthew Falder, who is serving 25 years in prison for 137 offences linked to the sexual abuse of children.

The arrest of Falder, a geophysicist from an affluent British family, has led to the arrest of Kyle Fox, who had filmed his sexual attacks on a five-year-old boy and a one-year-old girl. Fox appeared on footage on the ‘Welcome to Video’ site, raping a young girl.

Jong-Woo Son is already in South Korean Prison. He has been charged by the US department of justice too. Investigators have found that between June 2015 to March 2018, Welcome to Video earned more than 370,000 USD by over 7000 Bitcoin transactions.

Acting in coordination as the names and identities of the uploaders and ‘end-users’ were revealed, police in 38 countries including the UK, Ireland, USA, South Korea, Germany, Spain, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, the Czech Republic and Canada have raided and arrested the paedophiles.

337 paedophiles have been arrested so far. 92 of them are from the USA. 34 of them are already charged and facing sentences. The US department of justice has also made their names public.


In the UK, the USA and Spain, 23 children in total have been rescued from the clutches of active abusers.

As per the US DOJ, the Welcome to Video site operated as a hidden site accessed via the Tor web browser that hides the location of the websites and their viewers. Child abusers who posted videos of the abuse could earn ‘loyalty points’. Points were also awarded to users who referred the site to new users. Points could also be purchased via Bitcoin, allowing nearly anonymous payments.

The US Justice Department’s officials stated yesterday that tracking down ‘Welcome to Video’, ‘Silk Road’ and other such sites that sell porn, paedophilia, prostitution and drugs in the dark web has been “Testing the limits of the FBI’s technological capabilities”.

Several of the child sex offenders who were caught are yet to be jailed.

‘His Excellency, Recep Erdogan, Don’t be a fool!’ Donald Trump warns Turkey of consequences for persecution of Kurds

OpIndia Staff
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‘His Excellency, Recep Erdogan, Don’t be a fool!’ Donald Trump warns Turkey of consequences for persecution of Kurds

US President Donald Trump warned his counterpart Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan in an extraordinary letter sent to him after his decision to invade Syria. President Donald Trump wrote a letter to Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan calling on him to “work out a good deal!” and warning him not to be a “tough guy” or “fool”.

The letter by US President comes after Turkey launched its invasion into northeastern Syria. Three days after approving Turkish invasion on Kurdish-dominated region by pulling US troops, Trump told the Turkish president he would wreck Ankara’s economy if the invasion went too far.

Donald Trump letter Recep Tayyip Erdogan/ Representational Image: Twitter

“Let’s work out a good deal,” Trump wrote in the letter dated October 9, whose authenticity was confirmed to AFP by the White House.

In his unique approach to diplomacy, Trump’s issued a warning that he could destroy Turkey’s economy if the situation in Syria is not contained and resolved in a humane way.

“You don’t want to be responsible for slaughtering thousands of people, and I don’t want to be responsible for destroying the Turkish economy — and I will.”

Read: Had Donald Trump taken time to educate himself about world affairs before becoming President, he would not look foolish

“History will look upon you favorably if you get this done the right and humane way,” Trump said. “It will look upon you forever as the devil if good things don’t happen.”

The US leader told Erdogan a “great deal” was possible if he negotiated with the head of the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces, Mazloum Abdi, whom Turkey has labelled a “terrorist” for his ties to the Kurdish PKK militants in Turkey.

“Don’t be a tough guy. Don’t be a fool,” he finished adding, “I will call you later.”

On October 9th, Turkey President Erdogan launched a Turkish military offensive into Syria, claiming it wanted to “neutralize terror threats” and establish a “safe zone”. The Turkish forces last Wednesday carried out airstrikes and later announced ground troops had invaded northeastern Syria.

The US President Donald Trump had decided to pull out American forces from northern Syria, allowing Turkey to proceed with a military operation in the region. The decision had received huge criticism from across the globe. Since then, Trump has been trying to contain the damage from his last week’s sudden decision.

Another #MeToo scandal rocks academia as playwright Sudipto Chatterjee is accused of raping a student during rehearsals

OpIndia Staff
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Another #MeToo scandal rocks academia as playwright Sudipto Chatterjee is accused of raping a student during rehearsals

Yet another ‘Me Too’ scandal has emerged in the academia after a theatre student Angela Mondal accused playwright and poet Sudipto Chatterjee of sexually harassing her during a rehearsal. Chatterjee has taught at esteemed educational institutions across the world like New York University, University of California, Berkeley, Tufts University in the US as well as India’s Jawaharlal Nehru University.

In a Facebook post, Angela Mondal has written a detailed account of turn of events where she was allegedly subjected to sexual harassment by Chatterjee while ‘rehearsing’ for a sexual assault scene.

In her post, she has claimed that she faced sexual abuse of the highest order by the renowned Theatre personality Prof. Sudipto Chatterjee, who also happened to be the faculty of the institution in which she has enrolled with.

She narrates that when she auditioned for a play called Lysistrata, which happened to be an in house production of the institute, she was selected by Chatterjee for the lead role of his own production ‘Bhadroja’.

Read: #MeToo: The Wire journalist Vinod Dua accused of stalking, sexual harassment

“After three shows of Bhadroja, he suddenly realized that a scene wasn’t working and wanted to help me out with that. He called me to his place to teach me diaphragm breathing and psychophysical approach to acting,” wrote Mondal.

She added, “He spoke to me about the traumas of rape as the scene was of a similar nature, and took me to my utmost state of vulnerability. He held me from behind to teach diaphragm breathing and explained it wasn’t sexual, because if that had been the case then I would’ve felt his hardness.”

“Then he asked me to lie down on the bed with my eyes closed and deliver the dialogues of the above-mentioned scene. He started touching me and asked me to respond to his touch while delivering the dialogues. Then without a warning, he penetrated me with his fingers and asked me to spurt out the dialogues louder and louder,” she continued.

“I had became a corpse, completely non-functional. The moment I tightened my body and my voice broke, because of the suppressed cry, he withdrew. He distanced himself and explained how the process is complete and I’ve reached the emotional and mental state that was needed for the scene,” Mondal shared her story.

Read: Amidst allegations of sexual misconduct, AIB co-founders Tanmay and Khamba asked to step away

Mondal further alleged that Sudipto Chatterjee had tried something similar on another occasion, however, she could vocalize her ‘NO’ this time, so Chatterjee stopped harassing her.

Expressing her ordeal, Angela Mondal in her post stated that she “lived in denial, bottled up the trauma and continued to work” for the production ‘Bhadroja’, avoiding him as much as she could and took time to deal with her mental health and finally decided to come out with this incident.

Mondal claimed that when she finally confronted Sudipto Chatterjee with a written statement on WhatsApp, he blocked her. Sudipto’s wife Annesha Chakroborty, who was aware of the entire incident since the beginning, asked her to forget about it because exposing these allegations would destroy their relationship, alleges Mondal in her post.

She said that she had informed few other members of Sudipto Chatterjee’s theatre group ‘Spectators’, but they could not take any measures against him due to his power and position, however, they showed empathy through personal chats.

Mondal said she filed an official complaint with the institution against him on Monday and on 16th of October she was called for a meeting at the college and during the same meeting, the authority had informed me that Sudipto Chatterjee had ‘apparently’ submitted his resignation a day before the hearing.

“This isn’t the justice I deserve. It is an open secret in the circuit, that Sudipto Chatterjee, has been a serial sexual molester. There have been too many victims, however, he always had gotten away with this because the survivors couldn’t come out with their traumatic experiences,” expressed Mondal.

She added, “I am voicing out my experience on behalf of the women who have been at the receiving end of such violence but couldn’t. It is important that the people know that there is rapist roaming free in the eminent cultural circle, so that they may take necessary steps to exclude Sudipto Chatterjee from whatsoever association.”

Ending her post, Mondal stated that she was not Sudipto’s first prey and neither will be his last and asserted, “We will have to stop him”.

Bhopal: One Dilshad Khan dupes over 50 women to meet expenses of his 5 wives, arrested with associate Alok Kumar

OpIndia Staff
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Bhopal: One Dilshad Khan dupes over 50 women to meet expenses of his 5 wives, arrested with associate Alok Kumar

The Special Task Force of Madhya Pradesh Police has busted a gang that has been involved in cheating over 50 women of money by promising them government jobs.

As per reports, the police have been receiving complaints of a gang actively involved in cheating women by promising them jobs as nurses at AIIMS Bhopal. After an investigation, the STF finally cracked down on the gang and have arrested the gang leader Dilshad Khan and his associate Alok Kumar.

Alok and Dilshad were allegedly targetting qualified women and taking money from them promising permanent jobs as nurses at the Bhopal AIIMS.

The gang leader Dilshad has confessed to the STF that he has 5 wives and he has been involved in this crime only to meet the heavy expenses of maintaining them.

Special Task Force ADG Ashok Awasthi has been quoted by India Today as saying, “The gang has duped over 50 women so far by promising them to be recruited as a nurse in AIIMS, Bhopal.”

Dilshad’s fourth wife reportedly runs a private clinic in Jabalpur while his associate Alok Kumar’s only wife is the superintendent in a government-run girl’s hostel in AIIMS.

While it is not clear yet whether the women have been involved in the crime or not, the STF is to interrogate them soon.

The police team has stated that the gang targetted educated women from villages in search of jobs and duped them of money. The STF is now trying to locate all victims of the gang.

‘Extremely adorable!’ PM Modi blesses Gul Panag’s son after she shares a video where he identifies ‘Modi ji’ on magazine covers

OpIndia Staff
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‘Extremely adorable!’ PM Modi blesses Gul Panag’s son after she shares a video where he identifies ‘Modi ji’ on magazine covers

Prime Minister Modi blessed actress Gul Panag’s son on Twitter after she shared an adorable video of her son identifying him on covers of magazine.


Panag said that her son, Nihal, now promptly identifies PM Modi in magazines and newspapers. Prime Minister Modi acknowledged the video and said that he wishes him best in whatever he seeks to do.

Read: Gul Panag reveals Arvind Kejriwal and AAP’s dangerous pandering to Khalistanis during elections

“I am also sure he will find an amazing mentor and guide in you, @gulpanag,” he tweeted.

‘I love Burhan Wani’, ‘Zakir Musa come back’, apples with anti-India and pro-Pakistan messages found in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir

OpIndia Staff
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‘I love Burhan Wani’, ‘Zakir Musa come back’, apples with anti-India and pro-Pakistan messages found in Kathua, Jammu & Kashmir

In a shocking incident, fruit sellers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kathua district have found boxes of Kashmiri apples with anti-India messages like “We want freedom”, “I love Burhan Wani”, “Zakir Musa come back”.

According to the reports, the Jammu and Kashmir fruit traders found the apples with pro-Pakistan and anti-India messages while unloading boxes at the Kathua fruit market. The traders then raised anti-Pakistan slogans as a form of protest. The sellers opened the boxes purchased from the wholesale market only to find the messages written on the fruits with a black marker.

The police questioned several traders in Kathua as well as Jammu about the boxes, which were shipped from Kashmir. According to the police, the boxes were sent to a trader in Jammu.

Read: Pakistanis announce infiltrating India by crossing the LoC en masse to ‘liberate Kashmir’, Imran Khan says ‘No, it will upset narrative’

The apples also had messages like ‘Azadi’, ‘Go back India-Go back India’, ‘Meri Jaan Imran Khan’ and ‘Pakistan-Pakistan’.

Sanjeev Chib, SHO of Kathua Police Station, said that they have called the Jammu traders for questioning after the matter was brought to their notice. The police said that the initial investigation has revealed that the apple boxes were transported from Kashmir.

Jammu Fruit Association president Praveen Gupta said such incidents could disturb the peace. He added that police questioned some traders summoned from the main fruit market at Narwal in Jammu. “How are the local traders to be blamed? They received the fruit boxes from Srinagar. It is difficult to check all the 500 to 600 boxes packed in a truck,” Gupta asked.

He further added that the local traders shared the details of a fruit dealer from Kashmir who sent the apples. “Local traders gave the challan number of the dealer from whom the trucks were received. He may have in turn got them from some grower,” he said.

Following the incident, the fruit sellers on Wednesday also threatened to boycott apples from Kashmir if the government fails to take action. They further said that people are refusing to purchase them due to these messages.

Read: Imran Khan’s new Friday fad: Comes to PoK to declare that Indian Muslims will rise against India

“The boxes were from Kashmir and the messages were written in English and Urdu,” Gupta said, demanding that the government and police take strict action against those behind this.

The Pakistani sponsored Islamic terrorists in the valley are desperate to perpetrate terror in the region. With normalcy being returned to Jammu and Kashmir, the terror groups are trying to incite violence and stoke fear in the minds of the people in the state.

On Monday, the terrorists had targetted a truck driver, which was followed by an attack on two Punjab-based apple traders on Wednesday in which one was killed and the other is in critical condition. The improving apple trade between Kashmiris and the rest of the country has increased the desperation of Paksitani-sponsored terrorists and are responding to the situation with violence.

West Bengal: One Bakiullah Mollah lynched to death by angry mob after he attacked one Manirul Islam Biswas with a machate

OpIndia Staff
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West Bengal: One Bakiullah Mollah lynched to death by angry mob after he attacked one Manirul Islam Biswas with a machate

In a shocking incident from West Bengal, a man was lynched to death by angry mob after he attacked another man with a machate.

As per reports, one Bakiullah Mollah attacked one Manirul Islam Biswas with a machate late on Tuesday night, gravely injuring him. The incident took place in Satuliya Bazar locality of Bhangore in South 24 Parganas district. Manirul Islam Biswas, who is popular in that area, started bleeding profusely.

Read: Mob Lynching activism by celebrities: It stems from a lot of narcissism and even more stupidity

Reportedly, the onlookers then got angry at Mollah and started beating him up. Following this, the police took both the victims to the hospital where Mollah died. Manirul Islam Biswas is currently undergoing treatment in a government hospital. Police is currently investigating the case.

After Rajeev Dhavan shreds Ram Janambhoomi map in court, former MP Ramvilas Vedanti to file FIR for ‘hurting sentiments’

OpIndia Staff
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After Rajeev Dhavan shreds Ram Janambhoomi map in court, former MP Ramvilas Vedanti to file FIR for ‘hurting sentiments’

Hours after Rajeev Dhavan’s complete meltdown in SC wherein the senior Advocate representing the Muslim parties in the Ram Janambhoomi case tore pictorial maps and papers showing the exact birthplace of Lord Ram, a former MP and member of Ramjanmbhoomi Nyas (trust), Ramvilas Vedanti has said that he will be filing an FIR against Dhavan for ‘hurting sentiments’.


He said that will be registering the FIR against Dhavan in Ayodhya Kotwali at 10 am tomorrow morning.

Today, during the last day of the hearing in the politically sensitive case of Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute, Rajeev Dhavan representing the Muslim parties displayed extreme objectional behaviour by tearing copies off maps and papers handed over to him by the Hindu Mahasabha as he strongly opposed the party in the Supreme Court.

Senior advocate Vikas Singh sought to place on record the book ‘Ayodhya Revisited’ by former IPS Kishore Kunal. Senior advocate Singh was representing the Hindu Mahasabha and the book ‘Ayodhya Revisited’ spoke about pre-existence of Ram Temple in Ayodhya. This was when Dhawan had a complete meltdown and it the frenzy he started tearing off papers and maps handed over to him by the Hindu Mahasabha.

The Supreme Court on Wednesday reserved its judgement in the Ram Janmabhoomi-Babri Masjid title dispute case after hearing arguments from all the concerned parties.

The marathon hearing concluded after forty days, making the Ayodhya hearing as the second-longest in the history of the Supreme court after the landmark hearing in Keshavananda Bharati case which lasted for 68 days.

Reportedly, the Supreme Court has finished hearing all arguments in the Ayodhya case one hour before the set deadline. The Supreme Court has allowed the parties to submit their written notes over the next three days.

The Supreme Court is hearing a total of fourteen appeals filed against the 2010 judgment of Allahabad High Court which ordered that the 2.77-acre land in Ayodhya be partitioned equally among three parties – the Sunni Waqf Board, the Nirmohi Akhara and Ram Lalla.

A five-judge Constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) Ranjan Gogoi had earlier asked for parties to conclude their arguments in the land dispute case to be concluded by October 17. But the court decided to wrap up hearings by 16th October itself. The bench also comprises of Justices S A Bobde, D Y Chandrachud, Ashok Bhushan and S Abdul Nazeer, who are hearing appeals against the September 30, 2010, verdict of the Allahabad High Court.

The Supreme Court has been carrying out day-to-day hearing of the case. It is speculated that the Court will deliver the judgement on or before November 17, the day CJI Ranjan Gogoi retires.

PMC Bank assures that interests of depositors will be protected, preparing fresh balance sheet to present a true picture

OpIndia Staff
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PMC Bank assures that interests of depositors will be protected, preparing fresh balance sheet to present a true picture

As the depositors of Punjab and Maharashtra Co-operative Bank remain very worried about their money locked in the bank, today PMC Bank assured that every effort will be taken to safeguard the interests of depositors and other stakeholders of the bank.

On Wednesday, the RBI appointed administrator of bank J B Bhoria met the top brass of Reserve Bank of India including Shaktikanta Das. After the meeting, a statement issued by Bhoria said, “It was assured that the bank will make all efforts to safeguard the interests of depositors and other stakeholders.” The assurance comes after two depositors of the bank died of heart attack and a third person committed suicide after they were unable to withdraw their money deposited with PMC Bank.

The statement also informed that the bank is in the process of recasting its balance sheet to present a “true and fair picture” of the financial position of the bank. The bank’s management is accused of hiding the massive amounts of loan given to HDIL which were not repaid. The due amounts of HDIL was not reflected in NPA records of the bank, thereby presenting a false picture of its financial position.

The statement further added, “It was informed that the bank would expedite the processes of assessment of the realisability of the securities available with the bank and the forensic audit presently underway”.

At present, the depositors of the bank can withdraw a maximum amount of ₹40,000 from their accounts. Initially the limit was set at ₹1,000, which was gradually increased to ₹10,000, ₹25,000 and ₹40,000.

A statement issued by the bank on 14th October said that after the limit was raised to ₹40,000, about 77% of the depositors of the bank will be able to withdraw their entire account balance.

Also Read- PMC Bank Scam: MD Joy Thomas became Junaid Khan, married his assistant per Islamic rituals and owned properties with her

“The financial position of the bank has been substantially impaired due to fraud perpetrated on it by certain persons. As soon as the matter came to the notice of Reserve Bank of India, action was taken in appointing an Administrator and ensuring that the bank’s available resources are protected and not misused or diverted,” the statement on 14th had said.

Union minister Nitin Gadkari also today assured that the money of the depositors are fully protected. Talking to NDTV during election campaigning in Haryana, Gadkari said that no account holder will lose their money deposited with the bank. Two days ago, home minister Amit Shah had also said that 80% of PMC customers will get money back. He said that as per the Depositor Insurance Scheme Act, depositors with less than one lakh deposit will get their money, so, about 80 per cent will get back their money back. He expects the procedures to be completed in a month or two.

Real estate firm HDIL allegedly accounted for 70 per cent of the bank’s Rs 9,000 crore loans. According to the Mumbai Police’s Economic Offences Wing, HDIL’s loans turned into non-performing assets (NPA), but the bank management shielded this huge exposure from the RBI’s scrutiny.

The EOW has arrested two promoters of HDIL and two top officials of PMC bank, while ED is also investigating the case.

Kerala police registers case against 58 for sharing child pornography as part of operation ‘paedophile-hunt’

OpIndia Staff
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Kerala police registers case against 58 for sharing child pornography as part of operation ‘paedophile-hunt’

In a special drive conducted by Kerala police with the help of Interpol, cases have been registered against as many as 58 people for frequently sharing child pornography with others through various social media platforms. According to a report by Times Now, as many as 38 have been arrested so far and teams have been formed to nab others.

The crackdown is a part of operation ‘P-hunt’ (paedophile hunt) initiated by Cyberdome, a wing of the Kerala Police on June 11, 2019, wherein Kerala police, to curb the menace of cybercrime involving sexual attacks on children, joined hands with the Interpol, Crimes against Children Unit and the International Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.

The operation is being led by Additional Deputy General of Police (ADGP) Manoj Abraham under the supervision of Deputy General of Police (DGP) Loknath Behara.

The Kerala police cyber wing has recently cracked down on an international group of men who frequently distributed such content through various social media platforms.

Abraham said that when his team came across websites on the darknet they decided to launch the operation. Dark web or darknet refers to encrypted online content that is not indexed by conventional search engines.

Also Read: Kerala police join hands with Interpol to fight online sexual exploitation of children

He said that the team came across one such group which had a total of five lakh members, 126 of whom are from Kerala. Administrators of this group live in Pakistan and other European countries, added the police officer.

Though it was difficult to track members at first since they use fake identities and pseudonyms to conceal their identities, however, Kerala Police trained with Interpol and other agencies managed to crack down on the members of the group, revealed Abraham.

Raids were conducted at 21 places across the state by the Counter Child Sexual Exploitation Unit of Kerala Police. Various media reports suggested that the raids began at 6 am on October 12 and concluded around Sunday midnight.

Equipment such as laptops, mobile phones, modems, hard disks and memory cards along with computers and other electronic devices were seized. Police also identified multiple groups on WhatsApp, Telegram and Facebook where pornographic content was being shared by active members.

Paedophilia, or to treat children as sex objects, is rampant all around us but the NDA Government has come down hard on Indian porn websites promoting child pornography and selling rape and gang-rape videos of Indian women and children.

Recently India signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the USA to combat online child pornography. Last year, five such were shut down by the central government on receiving tip-offs from the cyber portal of National Crime Records Bureau. Five separate FIRs have been lodged against these websites under various sections of the Information Technology Act.

In 2015, the ministry of communications and IT, the department of telecommunications and the central government had listed over 800 websites and had issued an order to restrain service providers from transmitting them as their contents were found to be pornographic in nature.

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