The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has lodged a charge sheet against a 35-year-old PhD scholar from Tamil Nadu, who was arrested for purportedly sexually exploiting eight children aged between 5 and 18. Additionally, the accused is alleged to have traded explicit videos of these acts on the internet, as per a report by PTI.

In the charge sheet filed recently before a POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) court in Tamil Nadu's Thanjavur, the CBI has alleged that the accused, Victor James Raja, was sexually abusing a child for the last four years.

"It was further alleged that the accused forced victims to perform penetrative sexual acts on them as well as on other minor children, including a minor victim girl; clicked photographs and recorded videos; forced them to watch sexual acts with another adult person; threatened them with publishing the pictures and video on social media and for bringing more minor girls," a CBI spokesperson said in a statement on Friday, May 19.

The bureau uncovered the case when it found Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images and videos from Interpol's International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database, PTI reported.

The forensic analysis using specialised tools led the CBI to the Thanjavur district.

"Searches were conducted at the premises of the accused which led to the recovery of incriminating electronic gadgets. The accused was arrested and is in judicial custody," the statement added.

It was also alleged that in most cases, he targeted children aged below 12, forcing them to perform sexual acts with other children and using them for pornography, the CBI informed.