Dr. Kabir Garg: Who is Kabir Garg, who was sentenced to six years by the London court for running a dark website

An Indian psychiatrist has been sentenced to six years in prison for helping run a child sexual abuse website. Dr Kabir Garg, 33, from Lewisham, south-east London, pleaded guilty at Woolwich Crown Court for his role in promoting the exploitation of children.

Garg was the moderator of the dark web site

Woolwich Crown Court found that Garg had acted as a ‘moderator’ of a dark website dedicated to sharing images of abuse. Adam Priestley of the National Crime Agency said in a statement,

“Garg was involved in promoting child sexual abuse on a large scale. He used the dark web to reach a global community of pedophiles to share and discuss horrific crimes against children.”

Completed MBBS from KGMU

Garg completed his MBBS from King George’s Medical University, Lucknow and worked at the National Institute of Mental Health and Neurosciences (NIMHANS) in Bengaluru before moving to the UK. He was arrested in November last year and pleaded guilty in January to eight charges, including sexual abuse of children and making and distributing pornographic images.

Officials said Garg was one of the moderators of the site ‘The Annex’, which has 90,000 members worldwide. They found hundreds of links to child abuse material shared daily. Garg was the strange administrator of the website. Priestley said,

“There are hundreds of thousands of members of such sites on the dark web, but only a few of them commit to becoming staff members, which involves devoting a lot of time without pay.”

Garg was arrested in November 2022

The UK’s National Crime Agency said in a statement that officers arrested Garg from his flat in Lewisham in November 2022 as part of a coordinated operation with international partners. He was logged into his moderator account at the time. The site was open on his laptop. Authorities found more than 7,000 pornographic images, videos and several medical journal articles that he had acquired as a psychiatrist. One journal was titled- A Study on Child Abuse in India. Specialist Prosecutor Bethany Raine said,

“Garg’s crimes are particularly shocking given his understanding of the psychological impact of sexual abuse on children.”

Matthew Smith was arrested last year

UK authorities also arrested 34-year-old Matthew Smith from London in the same month last year after Garg was arrested for his alleged involvement in child sexual abuse in India and his equipment used to sexually assault children. Thousands of photos and videos were recovered.

Rs 65 lakh given to two teenagers

Smith allegedly paid two teenagers in India Rs 65 lakh over five years to sexually assault boys and share photos. Authorities suspect it is part of a larger child porn racket as they have found thousands of photographs and videos of sexual abuse.

Smith worked in India

During his stay in India, Smith worked in orphanages and NGOs, where he managed to build a network of child sexual abuse survivors and kept in touch with them after moving to the UK last year.

Prosecutors said Smith lured teenagers in India and taught them how to befriend the minors and then sent them videos and photos of sex acts he wanted to perform and record.