A Wollongong IT specialist allegedly behind a prolific international child pornography scam that bullied young children into providing naked images of themselves so they could be uploaded to the internet has failed in his bid for bail, despite his lawyer calling into question the strength of the police case against him.
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Abhijeet Kulkarni, a 42-year-old Indian national who has lived in Australia for six years, fronted Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday on multiple child exploitation charges stemming from a lengthy, covert investigation by NSW Police.
It will be alleged Kulkarni used his expertise in IT to troll the dark web and prey on innocent victims by posing as a talent scout and using aliases and fake profiles to hide his own identity.
Court documents reveal Kulkarni's alleged actions were unmasked when a woman reported receiving child abuse material from Kulkarni after she posted an ad on Gumtree selling boy's clothing.
Officers reviewed the images and identified a 13-year-old boy from NSW, who told them he'd begun speaking with a person via the app 'Telegram' and had been bullied into sending them naked pictures of himself. Police will allege the person the boy was talking to was Kulkarni.
Among the material Kulkarni allegedly had access to was a large number of images featuring children in their school uniforms displaying student identification cards, including their name, date of birth, school and other identifying details.
Kulkarni was arrested in February and remanded in custody. He applied for bail at the time but it was refused.
Meanwhile, prosecutors served a three-volume brief of evidence on Kulkarni's lawyers in April, however it is understood several items still remain outstanding more than six months on from Kulkarni's arrest.
Defence lawyer Graeme Morrison cited the delay and lack of evidence against his client when making a fresh bail application on Kulkarni's behalf in Wollongong Local Court on Tuesday.
"The brief [of evidence] has taken longer than normal [to serve]," he said.
"Seven months on there's no new substantial evidence before the court....the Crown case is extremely circumstantial, it does have great difficulties in proceeding forward."
Mr Morrison said Kulkarni, who worked as an IT specialist in the banking industry prior to his arrest, was the sole income earner in his family and regularly sent money to support his elderly parents in India.
Prosecutor Michael Tsiavlis opposed Kulkarni's bail application, claiming his alleged conduct indicated he had a "clear sexual interest in children".
He said it would be alleged Kulkarni had used a string of identities to commit the offences and claimed any further alleged offending would be "easy to commit but difficult to detect".
He also argued against a proposed bail condition that would prohibit Kulkarni from accessing the internet if released, saying such a condition would be impossible to police.
Magistrate Geraldine Beattie noted Kulkarni had strong community ties and no prior criminal history but said the charges against him were very serious, with some carrying a maximum of 15 years behind bars.
"If convicted, Mr Kulkarni is clearly looking at a significant custodial sentence," she said.
"I cannot see how I can craft bail conditions that mitigate [the risks]."
She refused bail and adjourned the case to October 2 for further mention.
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