Noida: Major Online Pornography Racket Involving Foreign Funding Busted, Couple Arrested

A major pornography racket has been uncovered in Noida, involving a couple, foreign financial transactions, and international adult entertainment platforms.

The illegal operation, reportedly run by Ujjwal Kishore and his wife Neelu Srivastava, has allegedly been active for five years and is believed to have received huge foreign funding, reported NDTV.

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Sources state that the couple was linked to a Cyprus-based firm called Technius Limited, which operates well-known adult websites such as Xhamster and Stripchat. The duo is accused of transferring funds overseas while disguising the nature of these transactions, falsely labelling them as payments for advertising and market research.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) conducted a raid at the couple's residence in Noida, where they claim to have uncovered illicit foreign funding amounting to ₹15.66 crore. Investigations further revealed that Ujjwal Kishore had previously been involved in a similar scheme in Russia before moving to India and starting this venture with his wife.

The pair reportedly used social media platforms-particularly Facebook-to recruit women. They ran a page under the name 'echato dot com', which offered modelling opportunities with attractive pay.

Many women from the Delhi-NCR region were allegedly enticed through these advertisements. Upon arriving at the couple's Noida flat for auditions, the women were offered roles in the pornography ring. Promised earnings ranged from ₹1 to ₹2 lakh per month.

During the ED's raid, officials discovered a professional webcam studio installed inside the couple's flat. The setup included high-end broadcasting equipment used for streaming adult content on platforms like OnlyFans. Three women were found working on-site and were live online during the raid. Their statements have since been recorded by the authorities.

Sources say the models' performances varied according to the payments made by clients, with categories including half-face shows, full-face shows, and full nudity. Access was granted via tokens purchased by viewers, with fees differing based on the content category. The revenue distribution heavily favoured the couple, who kept 75 per cent of the income, leaving just 25 per cent for the performers.

Initially, customer payments were made in cryptocurrencies. The ED also uncovered a bank account in the Netherlands to which Technius Limited had transferred ₹7 crore. These funds were then withdrawn in cash within India using international debit cards.

The probe agency suspects that thousands of women may have been recruited into this network.