Representative image of an arrest.
Credit: iStock Photo
Hyderabad: Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police arrested Kambeti Satya Murthy, a YouTuber from Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh, for creating, uploading, and circulating child sexual abuse material on social media.
Murthy ran the YouTube channel "Viral Hub" (@ViralHub007) and Instagram account "Viralhub_007," where he posted objectionable videos featuring interviews with minors aged 15-17. In these clips, he posed obscene, sexually explicit, and vulgar questions. One video showed him inducing two minors to kiss, amounting to sexual exploitation.
Operating since 2018, Murthy initially interviewed social media influencers using crude language to boost views and revenue. To increase monetisation, he targeted minors, uploading videos with indecent behavior and explicit language that violated child protection and cyber laws.
In October last year, Cyber Crime Police registered a suo motu case after spotting the abusive content. Technical analysis confirmed violations of relevant laws. Digital evidence led investigators to identify, trace, and arrest Murthy.
Police noted the content's gross breach of protections for children under 18, with cases filed accordingly.