CBI books Indore-based man for sexual abuse of minor Australian girl through Instagram

New Delhi, May 21

The CBI has booked an Indore-based man for alleged sexual abuse and intimidation of a Australian minor through Instagram, officials said Monday.

The agency had received the information from Interpol that Ankur Shukla, a resident of Indore, Madhya Pradesh, allegedly befriended a girl from Australia through social media platform Instagram, they said.

In his conversation with the minor girl, Shukla allegedly “groomed her” into sending him, her objectionable images and videos, the CBI has said in a statement.

“It was further alleged that over a period of time when the said minor girl was reluctant to share images and videos, the accused started threatening her that he would release her images and videos to her friends and family members, as a result, she continued to share the videos and images under duress,” CBI spokesperson said.

The girl later blocked Shukla on Instagram but he kept intimidating her using WhatsApp, they said.

“CBI developed the inputs by utilising its expertise to geolocate the accused and to zero-in on his exact whereabouts and also to gather evidence. Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused which led to recovery of incriminating materials like computer hard disk, mobile phone etc,” the spokesperson said.