Paedophile Junior Engineer bought victims’ silence with mobile phones and money

The Junior Engineer (JE) of UP’s Irrigation Department, who was arrested for allegedly sexually abusing over 50 children, used to lure these children by promising them mobile video games and later enticed them with sweets and money.

The JE, identified as Ram Bhawan, was arrested by the CBI on Tuesday from Banda. The UP Government has suspended him for misconduct and immoral acts.

The JE clicked photographs and made video clips while sexually abusing children, all aged between five and 16 years, and later sold the content on the dark net to other paedophiles across the globe, said CBI officials.

An official who is in touch with the CBI told this reporter that the JE used to lure the children, aged between 5 and 16 years, with mobile video games and later used to give them sweets and money. The targeted children were mainly street vendors, daily wagers, pavement dwellers and domestic helps who worked at his house.

“The modus operandi of the JE was simple. He used to identify the children, who were from unprivileged backgrounds, and then used to call them to his residence in the name of playing video games. Initially he would allow these children to play games on his mobile for hours and later sexually exploited them,” the official said.

He said the JE also used to give money to these children, with their parents getting the impression that their ward has won money in a video game. “As these children belonged to the underprivileged section of the society, the money used to cover up his misdeeds,” the official said.

“During interrogation, the accused revealed that he targeted those children who could easily be lured with money, electronic gadgets, eatables or any other thing they were deprived of. The JE believed that he could easily handle the families, if the children shared these details with their kin,” the official said.

The official said he was close to being exposed twice earlier but on both occasions, he bought the silence of the families with money. In one case he even gave a temporary job to one of the family members of the victim. “A government job helped the JE to win the trust of these people. The word spread that babu gives sarkari naukri and the parents turned a blind eye to the misdeeds of the JE,” the official said.

The officials have so far identified 11 children who have been sexually abused by the JE.

Raids on the residence of the accused unearthed eight mobile phones, Rs 8 lakh in cash, sex toys, a laptop and other digital evidence, including a large volume of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

Scrutiny of e-mails found on the laptop indicated he was in touch with several others people (both Indian and foreign nationals) for the purpose of sharing CSAM.