A low-income couple in Mallikarjuna Nagar, Amberpet, were on Thursday arrested for allegedly live-streaming their sex on a mobile app in exchange for money. Hyderabad police said the couple turned to producing and sharing obscene content because they were facing desperate financial conditions, mostly to fund their daughters’ education and pay increasing medical bills.
Couple Turned to Explicit Content to Survive Financial Crisis
The East Zone Task Force apprehended the man and woman after raiding their home based on a tip-off. Police confiscated high-definition cameras and other apparatus utilized for recording the content. The officials stated that the couple employed these gadgets to record live as well as pre-recorded videos, which they sold via a mobile application.
A police spokesperson said, “The couple could not afford to pay college fees for their two daughters. One is a second-year B.Tech student, and the other just cleared her intermediate exam with 468 out of 470 marks and was set to join college.”
The auto driver man was also suffering from ill health, which would not have allowed him to work full-time or seek medical treatment, police further added.
They Earned More By Videos Than Driving an Auto
The duo allegedly earned more from this venture than the man could have from driving an auto-rickshaw. They used to charge Rs 2,000 for live videos and Rs 500 for recorded videos, mostly targeting young adult users of the platform.
The couple used masks while performing to mask their identities, police said. The videos were sold on a subscription basis to paying users of the app, effectively an underground subscription-based network for adult content. “They utilized HD quality cameras for the purpose. They also allegedly wore masks during the act to hide their identities,” police said.
Legal Action Initiated Against Buyers Too
Police have lodged a complaint under the provisions of the Information Technology Act and are continuing the investigation. Officials have also served notices to those who bought or downloaded the couple’s videos, hinting at possible action against the consumers of such content.
The investigation is ongoing, and the case has left some questions regarding how financial desperation, online content platforms, and cybersecurity enforcement in India intersect.