New Delhi: Noida: An online pornography racket run by a couple supplying content to adult entertainment platforms including OnlyFans was busted in Uttar Pradesh’s Noida.
Ujjwal Kishore and his wife Neelu Srivastava are accused of operating the racket for five years involving massive foreign funding, luring models with promises of lucrative salaries, according to NDTV.
The preliminary inquiry reportedly reveals that the couple received Rs 15.66 crore foreign funding from a Cyprus-based company Technius Limited, known for operating popular adult entertainment websites such as Xhamster and Stripchat.
Misrepresenting the purpose codes in bank transactions, the couple transferred funds to the foreign companies showing the payments were meant for advertising and market research.
It is reported that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) raided the couple's Noida home, unearthing illegal foreign funding amounting to Rs 15.66 crore.
Ujjwal Kishore, previously involved in similar racket in Russia, relocated to India, before resuming the operations enlisting his wife.
The couple recruited models primarily focusing Facebook setting up page named 'echato dot com' offering them modelling opportunities and promised lucrative salaries.
Women from the Delhi-NCR region, who thus got lured by advertisements, ended up in the couple's flat in Noida for auditions and they were offered remuneration raging from Rs 1 to 2 lakh for joining pornography racket.
The ED officials reportedly found professional webcam studio at the couple’s flat for broadcasting content for adult streaming platforms like OnlyFans.
Three women were reportedly found working connected online when officials raided the premises.
The ED has recorded their statements revealing that the models performed tasks based on the payments that customers made.
Initially receiving the payment through cruptocurrencies, the couple grabbed 75 per cent of the earnings, leaving the models only 25 per cent, according to the report.
It is reported that the ED discovered Rs 7 crore had been transferred by Technius Limited to a bank account in the Netherlands.
Subsequently, funds were withdrawn using international debit cards.