Jalandhar, January 15
Honeymoon in certain posh hotels of Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh may prove embarrassing for some newly wed couples, as video clips of their intimate moments were allegedly uploaded on more than three dozen porn websites floated and supported by two computer-savvy Jalandhar-based youngsters.

The sensational international porn racket came to light as the two youths in their early twenties - Ankur Bedi, a resident of Patti Sangi of Jandiala township, and Harvinder, a resident of Bagpur village in Nakodar - were nabbed by the cyber cell sleuths of the Noida police from their residences in Jandiala and Bagpur, respectively.

Ankur Bedi, according to the ACP, Jalandhar Cantonment, Manpreet Singh Dhillon, was working with HDFC Bank, while Harvinder was a commerce student. Ankur, it was learnt, was to get married one of these days and he fell into police hands while marriage preparations were on at full swing at his place.

They were arrested on a complaint of Shantanu, a resident of Mathura, who had celebrated his marriage in a Mathura hotel and had got perturbed to see video clips of his honeymoon on a couple of websites. He was informed about it by his friends.

The websites were allegedly being hosted from France, Brazil, Rajasthan, Delhi and Goa. Managers and owners of dozens of hotels of North India were also under scanner for their suspected role in procuring the video clips of couples by the two youths.

"Ankur Bedi and Harvinder were part of a well-oiled international racket. They are likely to have made dozens of couples victims of their trade.

We are investigating the case with a scientific approach. We have also sought details of bank accounts of the two accused to ascertain the quantum of money made by the two from this trade.

The length and breadth of this scam is seemingly very alarming.

We are working on minute details," said Dr Triveni Singh, the In-charge of the Cyber Cell of the Noida police while talking to The Tribune.

He said the focus of the investigation was to find out the source of video clips and to examine the role (if any) of managers, owners and officials of various hotels in the region and also that of web designers.

The cyber sleuths were also busy to find out as to how the accused made big money - suspected to be in crores of rupees - by way of selling the video clips to other international porn portals or from black-mailing their victims? "We are looking into every aspect of this serious issue," said Dr Triveni Singh.

The detailed investigation of the seized laptop of the accused who were running the scam for over three years was likely to further expose enormity of the trade.

Dr Triveni Singh said the cyber cell sleuths were working overtime to determine the exact locations from where the servers of porn sites hosted by the two accused were being operated.

According to Rakesh Verma, inspector, Special Operations, Noida Police, who headed the police party which raided the residences of the two accused and arrested both of them from Nakodar and Jandiala.

A case has been registered at Noida's Sector 58 police station under Sections of 420, 292 and 120-B of the IPC and Sections 66-A, 67 of the IT Act.

Verma and his team arrested the two accused who, were on a six-day police remand, after informing the Jalandhar (Rural) Police.

Highlights The international porn racket was allegedly run by two computer savvy youths hailing from Jalandhar district. The Cyber cell of the Noida police is examining the possible role of managers, owners and officials of a couple of hotels of the region in the scam. The cash-for-porn scam came to light after a perturbed Mathura-based youth complained that video clip of his honeymoon was uploaded by someone on porn sites. The seized laptop of the accused could reveal more details about the modus operandi of the two youths nabbed by cyber cell of the Noida police.