A police official checks out the CDs recovered in the raid. Picture by Prashant Mitra

Ranchi, Jan. 19: After a mixed bag on the ground, Ranchi police have finally proved its mettle on the virtual plane.

In a wildcat raid, the Jagannathpur police arrested eight youths watching pornography at a cyber cafe. More than 50 compact discs have been recovered from the caf? and the police seized four computers and three webcams in the raid. The youths were apparently watching the sleaze clips in the seclusion of their cabins.

Though the police are yet to get any clues about the purpose of the webcams, they suspect that the cameras were used for shooting obscene pictures.

The police said they were tipped off about the caf? after three young men were rounded up last evening with six pornography discs. ?We were on our usual patrol when the youths zipped past us on their bikes. We were suspicious,? an official said. ?They were a bit rash and so we decided to stop them for a licence check. We signalled them to stop at least two times but they did not pay any heed to it. At last, we had to force them to apply brakes,? a police official said.

?They did not have either papers or licence. We frisked one of their bags and recovered six discs. The lewd pictures on the cover gave us an idea about the contents. We immediately took them to the police station and started questioning them. They said they were going to the Cyber.Com to watch the discs. We came to know that the caf? used to sell pornographic films. We planned a raid the following day,? the official added. The police raided the caf? around 11 am. ?There were eight cabins in all. When we checked them, we found eight youths busy watching pornographic films. The cabins had been constructed in such a manner that no one could guess what was happening inside.?

?Three of the computers had webcams. Satish Chand, the owner of the caf? tried to escape, but was arrested. We recovered more than 50 porn discs from the different compartments of the caf?,? another official said. The police said interrogation was underway. ?We have a hunch that Satish and his friends used to shoot pornographic films. According to our information, a few girls were also involved,? he said.