Sleuths of the CB-CID have apprehended a 27-year-old man from Andhra Pradesh on charges of creating paedophiliac communities on Facebook and posting obscene content. A computer and documents were seized from the suspect.
Sources with the State police said Yadava Manikanta from Tirupati had created three communities, including one titled ‘Chinna Ponnu Veriyargal’ using images of children, mostly girls, and inviting obscene messages, tantamount to child sexual abuse.
With over 3,300 likes registered by online users on the famous social network, the paedophiliac pages went viral soon after their creation.
However, the pages were pulled down by Facebook on Tuesday last week following widespread criticism online, and reports of abuse and inappropriate content.
Media reports
Following media reports on the FB content, the CB-CID and the Chennai City police registered cases and its respective Cyber Crime wings began probe.
After obtaining the IP address from Facebook, the CB-CID team tracked the person, who hosted the online communities, to Tirupati and established that it was Yadava Manikanta.
He was arrested from a location in the temple town on Sunday, brought to Chennai and remanded in judicial custody the same evening.
He was later lodged in Puzhal prison, police sources added.
Manikanta is likely to be taken into police custody for further interrogation. Investigators are also trying to identify the online users who had posted likes and comments on the pages.
CB-CID is trying to identify those who posted likes and comments
