PARIS: Pavel Durov, the founder and chief of Telegram, who was arrested in France on charges of failing to curb illegal content on the app, is also being investigated on suspicion of "serious acts of violence" against one of his children, a source close to the case said Wednesday.

The probe, opened recently by the French child welfare office, concerns Durov's son, born in 2017, who is living in Switzerland with his mother.

The alleged violence happened in Paris, the source said.

The boy's mother had filed a legal complaint in Switzerland last year, accusing her former partner of violent acts against their son, the source said.

Durov's former partner told AFP she has three children with the Telegram chief, two boys and a girl.

According to the Paris prosecutor's office, the opening of the French investigation aims to allow coordination with Swiss authorities to see if the same case is already being probed there and not to duplicate the enquiry.

According to the complaint filed with judicial authorities in the Swiss canton of Geneva, Durov, 39, and the mother, 44, were never married but have three children, who were born in 2013, 2016 and 2017.

The complaint alleges that Durov was violent towards their youngest son five times between 2021 and 2022, in Switzerland and elsewhere.

As the result of the alleged violence, the child suffered from "anxiety, bed-wetting and regular sleep problems", according to court filings seen by AFP.

The court case alleges that in November 2021, in Paris, Durov slapped the child on the back, then grabbed him and, lifting him off the ground, shook him forcefully.

Durov, the mother and their children are not named in the Swiss criminal complaint but a number of details reference the children's birth years, the United Arab Emirates, where Durov lived, and the number of a separate civil case.

Speaking to AFP on Wednesday evening, the mother said she was not at liberty to comment on the criminal case.

But she added that her youngest son never went to school in France, as previously stated by a source.

"He only visited Paris as a tourist," she said.

The mother's Geneva-based lawyer, Karim Charaf, said she "did the necessary in order to protect the interests of her children in Switzerland."

"We have no comment or information about the procedure in France," Charaf told AFP.

Contacted by AFP, Durov's lawyer declined to comment. Russian-born Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris late Saturday.

On Wednesday evening, Durov was charged by the French judiciary with a litany of violations related to the messaging app but allowed to go free while being banned from leaving the country.

According to the Russian edition of Forbes, Durov has five children from two women, including three from this relationship. He also participated in a sperm donation programme which he says has seen him father over 100 children.

 - AFP