The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has arrested a man from Hisar, Haryana, on charges of raping, sexually assaulting, and exploiting multiple minor girls for the production and distribution of child sexual abuse material (CSAM).

The CBI said there was no formal complaint and the agency took up the case on May 29 based on allegations that the accused had been “creating, browsing, collecting, possessing, exchanging, and uploading” CSAM in electronic form.

“No case was registered. The CBI detected the instance of child sexual abuse on its own,” the agency said in a statement, adding that no parent had come forward to lodge a complaint until that point.

CBI officials traced the abuse through the INTERPOL’s International Child Sexual Exploitation (ICSE) database and Cyber Tipline reports generated by Google. These reports were forwarded to the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre (I4C) under the ministry of home affairs.

The analysis of this material, supported by cyber forensic tools, revealed that the incidents had occurred in Hisar district, Haryana.

“Demonstrating qualitative investigative skills, due diligence, and procedural efficiency, CBI detected Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM) images & videos from the INTERPOL’s ICSE database; the CSAM were also found linked with Cyber Tipline Reports, generated by Google and submitted to I4C, MHA. The analysis of the images and videos using cyber forensic tools revealed the location of the incident to district Hisar in Haryana, depicting multiple victims of sexual assault and abuse by the accused,” said the CBI.

On June 3, CBI officials searched the accused’s home in Hisar and arrested him.

During the operation, the agency said it recovered “incriminating electronic devices and identified multiple children who were raped, sexually assaulted, and threatened and used for pornographic purposes over past few years,” the statement read.

The agency has not disclosed the identity of the accused or the number of victims involved but confirmed that the abuse spanned several years.

The case marks a rare instance of the CBI initiating criminal proceedings in a sexual offence case without any external complaint, using cyber intelligence and forensic analysis alone.

The arrested individual faces charges under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, and the Information Technology Act.