Hyderabad: An unedited version of a battle sequence from S.S. Rajamouli’s Baahubali 2 was leaked online, creating a flutter in Tollywood. Within hours of the leak, Hyderabad Cyber Crime team apprehended a trainee video editor at Annapurna Studios for stealing the footage and sharing it on the Net. Police officials said that the suspect, Ainampudi Krishna, who lives in a hostel at Shaikpet, took the footages in a pen drive from the editing suite and shared it with his friends in Vijayawada.
Makers of Baahubali 2 approached Hyderabad police after the leaked footage went viral on social media, showing lead actors Anushka Shetty and Prabhas in semi-rendered CG shots. One of the producers, Mr Shobu Yarlagadda, lodged a formal complaint with the Cyber Crime police in the Central Crime Station. He had received a message on WhatsApp from a close associate, informing him of two videos of 2.50 minutes’ length being circulated in Vijayawada and going viral on the Internet. Police booked a case and with the help of the editing team of Baahubali, identified the suspect.
“We have arrested the suspect following a probe. We found that he had stolen the video from the video editing lab and shared with his friends Akki Chaitanya and Aishwarya, both from Vijayawada. A mobile phone and computer used by the accused have been seized for analysis. A case has been registered under the Copyrights Act and relevant sections of the IT Act,” said Cyber Crimes ACP K.C.S. Raghuvir. Police said that Krishna, who had joined as a trainee video editor a few months ago, confessed to the police that he was excited to share the video with his friends and that he had not sold the video for money.
