Wollongong man Abhijeet Kulkarni charged over alleged distribution of child abuse material

Distressing allegations about a bank IT specialist have been revealed to an Illawarra court, after he was arrested and charged in relation to the alleged distribution of child porn.

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An Illawarra IT specialist accused of forcing young teens to send him nude photos and uploading them to the dark web has been refused bail. 

Abhijeet Kulkarni, 42, was arrested at his Wollongong apartment on Friday, after an investigation by the state’s Child Abuse and Sex Crime Squad’s Child Exploitation internet Unit allegedly revealed he was the man behind several online accounts that coerced children into sending naked videos and photos. 

Abhijeet Kulkarni, 42, has been charged over the alleged dissemination of child pornography. Picture: Linkedin.

Police raided Kulkarni’s apartment on Friday after a lengthy investigation, where they allegedly located several highly encrypted electronic devices, charging him with 13 offences including five counts of using a carriage device to transmit/publish/promote child pornography, six counts of use carriage service to solicit child pornography, use carriage service to menace/harass/offend and use child under 14 years to make child abuse material.

Kulkarni, who according to his Linkedin profile has been employed by Westpac as a Senior Technical Business Analyst, faced court on Monday, where fresh allegations were revealed. 

In documents tendered to the court, police allege they began investigating Kulkarni in 2018, after he responded to a Gumtree ad about the sale of some boys clothes. 

Police allege a man by the name of David Cunial contacted the seller and struck up a conversation, and after some back and forth, police allege Kulkarni, using the David Cunial persona, sent the person several exploitative images of a child, and asked for the same in return. 

The seller contacted police, who tracked down the 13-year-old boy depicted in the images. In court documents, police allege the boy told investigators he started sending nude photos to a person he became friends with on an app called ‘Telegram’. 

Abhijeet Kulkarni was arrested at his Wollongong apartment last week. Picture: NSW Police Force.

The boy allegedly told police the person convinced him to send naked photos and videos of himself, but deleted the app when the person became ‘aggressive’ and demanded more. 

In searching the boy’s phone, police allege he was also part of a group conversation titled ‘AussieSchoolKidsForHardFun Level 1’ where kids shared “their secret naked life and do and accept naked challenges”. 

In the documents, police allege Kulkarni was using multiple personas, some of which used the Cunial surname, to encourage the kids to perform and film sexual acts within the group. 

From the material, police allege there are at least 18 victims across Australia and internationally, some of which are yet to be identified. 

In February last year, police allege in the documents they posed as young people and engaged in online conversation with several of Kulkarni’s alleged online personas. 

In one of the conversations, police allege Kulkarni admitted to having a ‘kids group’ on the dark web. 

Subsequent investigations allegedly revealed Kulkarni had been active on the dark web for the past five years, with police alleging in court documents that he was responsible for “mass uploads” of child abuse material. 

Kulkarni faced court for the first time on Monday: NSW Police Force.

In one of the more distressing allegations, police say photos obtained by Kulkarni showed children in their school uniforms, with the alleged victims showing students ID cards revealing their names, date of births and schools. 

In the documents, police allege Kulkarni went to “extreme lengths” to hide his online identities, using multiple false online identities, false financial records, heavy encryption software and virtual private networks. 

The 42-year-old was refused bail by Magistrate Jillian Kiely at Wollongong Local Court on Monday, despite Kulkarni’s defence lawyer Graeme Morrison arguing, the police facts were “all assumptions” at this stage.

“The (allegations) are extremely serious,” she said. 

“(There is a) real risk that with the accused’s level of ability with IT equipment that he could remotely interfere with evidence.” 

Kulkarni was refused bail, and will return to court in April.