The Telangana Cyber Security Bureau (TGCSB) carried out a one day special operation across the state on January 8, leading to the arrest of 44 cyber offenders. Among them were 24 repeat offenders involved in Child Sexual Exploitative and Abusive Material cases and 10 mule bank account holders linked to large scale financial fraud.
The coordinated drive involved 18 teams operating in Hyderabad and several other districts. Officials said the action reflected the bureau’s strict approach towards both financial and non financial cybercrimes.
This was the second special operation focused exclusively on repeat CSEAM offenders. The 24 accused were found to have uploaded, stored and circulated sexually explicit material involving minors. They were connected to 91 Cyber Tipline complaints, resulting in 24 FIRs under Section 67 B of the IT Act and Section 15 of the POCSO Act.
The accused, aged between 18 and 48, mostly belonged to working and middle class backgrounds. One of them was a state government employee. Investigations showed that nearly 90 per cent of the content involved girl children aged between 4 and 14 years, many of them from other countries.
The bureau’s Child Protection Unit, set up in February 2025 with support from India Child Protection, plays a key role in tracking online child abuse. It monitors social media, cyber tipline reports and the deep and dark web. In 2025 alone, the unit processed over 1.2 lakh reports, registered 866 FIRs and arrested 421 accused.
In a major breakthrough, officials rescued a four year old girl after identifying locally produced abusive content. A 24 year old security guard from Rajendranagar was arrested, and the child was rescued and counselled with her parents. The accused has been sent to judicial custody.
As part of the same operation, 10 mule bank account holders were arrested. Their accounts were linked to 37 cybercrime cases across India, including 14 in Telangana, involving transactions of about Rs 26 crore.
Since September 2024, TGCSB has conducted seven special operations. In 2025, a total of 1,689 cybercrime accused were arrested across Telangana, with 277 arrests made by TGCSB.
The bureau urged citizens to report suspicious online activity involving children through www.cybercrime.gov.in or by calling 1930. Officials warned that sharing illegal content, even unintentionally, can lead to serious legal action.
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