Editor’s note: This story includes mention of potentially triggering situations, including exploitation of a minor. Resources are available here.
IU student Ashwin Veerappan, 20, was arrested and charged with three felony charges of child exploitation Feb. 20, according to the Feb. 21 Monroe County Sheriff’s Office booking log.
Veerappan pleaded not guilty after his initial hearing Feb. 27 and was released under pretrial monitoring until his pretrial conference scheduled for April 16.
The arrest came after a year-long investigation that began in April, according to a probable cause affidavit.
On April 4, 2025, IU Police Department Detective Christopher Bridge contacted Detective Christian Berg with the Owatonna, Minnesota, Police Department after Owatonna PD had let IUPD know about an investigation that linked a Kik Messenger account to an IU network IP address.
Kik is a mobile instant messaging app that allows users to send texts, photos and videos using a username instead of a phone number.
Berg had been maintaining an undercover presence across social media platforms to identify people producing, distributing and promoting child sexual abuse material.
On April 2, 2025, Berg received a private message on Kik from “AshVpn,” later identified as Veerappan, asking to trade child sexual abuse material, or CSAM, videos and links, according to the affidavit.
Veerappan identified himself as a 28-year-old male and sent Berg a video involving a sexually explicit act between a prepubescent female and an adult female.
Berg then sent Veerappan a link used to track the IP address of the user who clicks it. At the same time as this exchange, U.S. Department of Homeland Security Agent David Alley had notified Berg that he had also received CSAM from “AshVpn.”
Between the two, Veerappan had sent a total of five different child sex abuse videos, attempting to trade for other CSAM files, according to the affidavit.
On April 22, 2025, Bridge received a cyber tip from an organization called Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force Program. A total of 29 files were reportedly uploaded by “AshVpn,” according to the affidavit.
ICAC is a national network of 61 task forces that are “dedicated to investigating, prosecuting and developing effective responses to internet crimes against children,” according to the website.
Bridge reviewed the files and found 16 were confirmed to be CSAM involving prepubescent children. The affidavit said 24 IP addresses that the Kik account was connected to at the times of the CSAM file uploads were linked to IU, while some were linked to Verizon.
On Feb. 6, Verizon confirmed to Bridge that the IP addresses were from a number with an account under what Bridge believed to be Veerappan’s mother’s name. Bridge arrested Veerappan at the Hub Bloomington apartments on Feb. 20 following the confirmation.
According to the affidavit, Bridge stated Veerappan committed 27 instances of child exploitation.
