The Hindu : New Delhi News : Pirated VCDs seized; two held

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Dec 12, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

Pirated VCDs seized; two held

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, DEC. 11 . Two persons have been arrested by the Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of the Delhi police for allegedly manufacturing and supplying pirated video compact discs (VCDs), music CDs and pornographic CDs to various retailers in the Capital and other States. The police have recovered several CD writers and other audio-visual CDs worth Rs. 31 lakhs from the accused.

According to the police, the Intellectual Property Rights Section of the EOW had been trailing a person suspected to be one of the major players in the flourishing pirated CD market in the Capital.

Following a specific tip-off, a police team under the supervision of Assistant Commissioner of Police, P.K. Mishra, arrested the suspect, identified as Shiv Shankar Sharma from his hideout in Shahdara, North-East Delhi, on Friday. His alleged associate, Chander Pal Singh, was also arrested from the spot.

At their instance, the police conducted a raid at the hideout of another suspect allegedly involved in supplying pirated CDs. However, the suspect, identified as Karan Singh of Brahmpuri in North-East Delhi, got wind of the police action and went underground.

During interrogation, Shiv Shankar purportedly told the police that he had been in the piracy racket for the past 10 years.

A post-graduate, Shiv had a petty job in Chandni Chowk where he came in contact with the people dealing in pirated CDs and joined the racket to make quick money. He had been earlier arrested by the Crime Branch of the Delhi police for a similar offence in 1997.

The police said Shiv had changed his modus operandi of late. He had stopped dealing with customers directly. The customer would place orders after a visiting a particular shop. After this Shiv's associates in the shop would call him up and inform him about the order.

Shiv would then ask the customer to meet him at a pre-designated place. He would reach that place in his car and after clinching the deal would leave the place immediately to avoid detection.

Shiv's network, the police said, spanned across many States. He used to get the original films from Mumbai and Ahmedabad. He would then copy the films with the help of CD writers and then replicate them to produce several pirated CDs. These were then sent to retailers in Palika Bazar and Lajpat Rai market in Chandni Chowk and also to dealers in Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh.

At the beginning of this month, the police had arrested one Kapil also allegedly involved in the piracy racket. He too had adopted the same modus operandi and was said to have links with operators in Mumbai and Ahmedabad. He too supplied pirated CDs to U.P., M.P. and Rajasthan. A senior police officer said they were investigating the links of the operators in the Capital with those in Mumbai and Ahmedabad.

Of recent, Shiv was making huge profits by selling pornographic VCDs made in India, the police said. A case under various sections of the Copyright Act and Section 292 (sale of obscene material) of the Indian Penal Code had been registered and further investigations were in progress.

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