Kerala police develop Europol-inspired AI tool to hunt online pedophiles

Kochi: Imagine a child sexual abuse case where investigators are left with no clear leads. No faces, no familiar landmarks, nothing obvious to trace. All that appears is a disturbing image and in its background is a patterned bedsheet, a torn shirt sleeve, a soft drink can, or maybe a roadside sign glimpsed through a window. At first, these details seem trivial. But what if that brand of bedsheet is sold only in a certain town or the fabric of the sleeve was unique to a certain tailor? Or that particular soft drink can is unique to one state? Suddenly, those ordinary objects could become the key to saving a child.

Kerala Police’s Cyber Division is turning this possibility into action. At HAC’KP, a hackathon held in Kochi ahead of c0c0n 2025 – the International Cyber Security & Hacking Conference, student developers and mentors are working with cyber police to build a crowdsourced investigation platform inspired by European law enforcement agency, Europol’s, ‘Trace an Object’ initiative.

According to Ankit Asokan, SP (Cyber Operations), Kerala Police, the idea is simple but powerful. When every other leads run dry, investigators will extract cropped, non-identifiable objects from abuse material like a bedsheet design, a piece of furniture, a brand logo, or a roadside sign. AI-powered sanitisation tools will ensure no victim or suspect is ever revealed. These fragments will then be shared publicly, and citizens will be invited to help the police.

“Even the smallest detail, be it a food packet, a background pattern, or a household item, could make the difference between a dead end and a rescued child. We want to give the public a safe way to contribute to the most difficult investigations, without compromising the privacy or dignity of the victims,” said Asokan.

The platform will also be smart enough to connect duplicate tips automatically and filter out noise, passing only useful leads into investigative systems already used by cyber police. That means officers can focus on action rather than sifting through endless reports.

But Kerala Police is not stopping there. Alongside this tool, the hackathon teams are also upgrading Grapnel, a dark web crawler the force has already used to scan hidden networks for child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The new vision is to transform Grapnel into a comprehensive, end-to-end platform for detecting, reporting, and supporting the takedown of CSAM across the internet.

According to Peter Pilley, DevOps Architect at Kindred Tech, New Zealand, who is mentoring the student teams, this expanded system will let victims protect their identity. The victims can upload an intimate image or video they fear might be circulating online. The tool will create a private digital fingerprint of the image or video, called a ‘hash’, without actually uploading the visual. The file itself never leaves their device, but the unique hash is shared with participating internet platforms, enabling them to automatically block or remove any matching content before it spreads further.

At the same time, the police will gain sharper tools to detect and trace CSAM. Grapnel’s upgraded engine will leverage AI to classify material, send real-time alerts when known abusive content surfaces, and streamline takedown requests by pinpointing platforms hosting illegal files.

“This is about making technology work for both victims and investigators at once. Victims get a safe, private way to stop harmful images from spreading, while investigators get real-time intelligence to track offenders. Together, these tools can close the gap between abuse and action,” Pilley said.

Asokan said that for the police, these software projects are about reshaping how communities and technology come together to protect children. “Every clue matters, every second counts. By combining advanced AI, citizen participation, and global best practices, we can give children a fighting chance against one of the darkest threats online,” said Asokan.

Around 30 student developers, 26 from Kerala and four from other states, are competing at HAC’KP, working closely with police mentors and global experts to build prototypes of these platforms. Both tools remain unnamed for now, with police throwing the challenge open to the hackers and even the public to suggest creative names. Winners will be rewarded at c0c0n 2025.