Hyderabad: Police arrested six persons including the owner of a theatre in Bihar, who tried to extort money from the producers of Baahubali-2 by threatening to release a HD quality print of the film online.
One of the suspects, Divakar Kumar, owner of Veena Cinema in Begusarai district of Bihar, had obtained the print from his theatre.
Gang specialised in piracy
Another accused, Rahul Metha from New Delhi, was earlier booked in a piracy case related to the Bahubali-1. Officials said the suspects were part of an organised gang based in north India that specialised in piracy.
Police said Rahul Mehta called Mr Prasad Devin-eni, a producer of Baahubali-2 and member of Arka Media Works Entertainment Ltd, and demanded Rs 15 lakh. They threatened that if the money was not paid, they would release the movie online and share the links in social media, CCS police officials said. “Rahul sent a sample video to establish his claim,” said Central Crime Station DCP Avinash Mohanty.
Following a complaint, police booked a case and tracked down the suspects from Bihar and Delhi.
Besides Divakar and Rahul, the other suspects were identified as Jitender Kumar Mehta, 37, Ranibagh; Tauffiq, 27, of Jama Masjid area, Delhi; Mohd. Ali, 39, of Sult-hanpuri, Delhi; and Chandan, a native of Patna, Bihar.
The DCP said Rahul was arrested from Jubilee Hills following a tip-off. A special team was sent to Delhi and apprehended the other suspects, he said. Movie prints are given to theatre owners in an encrypted form with a key. The owners use the key to play the movie. The suspect copied the movie using the key, they said.
The list of websites, where pirated movies, are available:
hindimoviesonlines.net
www.boxtv.com
badtameezdil.net
www.smarttalkies.com
www.moviesgoldonline.net
www.isansar.com
www.join4movies.to
www.thiruttuvcd.me
Pirated movies can be downloaded using Torrent links.
