Hyderabad police on Tuesday busted a Delhi-based gang that secured pirated copy of the mega blockbuster, Bahubali-The Conclusion . The gang had even tried to extort money from the film makers by directly negotiating with them.
While the gang managed to secure a copy of the movie from a theatre in filmi style breaching satellite technology security, Hyderabad police caught six of its members from Delhi and Patna in an equally dramatic fashion. “Six of the gang members were arrested and brought to Hyderabad on transit warrant,” Central Crime Station DCP Avinash Mohanty said at a press conference.
Two days after the release of Bahubali , its Hyderabad-based production team -Arka Media Works Entertainment Limited- received a call from a self-styled film anti-piracy activist. “We have a high- definition pirated copy of your blockbuster. Pay us ₹ 15 lakh a day, otherwise the movie would be uploaded on Internet,” the caller was quoted as saying.
The worried film makers rushed to the CCS with a complaint.
“Instead of arresting the caller by tracking the phone calls, we decided to engage him in a dialogue to trace the origin of the pirated copy,” the DCP said. When the production team asked the caller for proof of the pirated copy in his possession, the latter sent a sample video. It turned out to be the movie’s HD copy. With the help of experts, the police found that the film was copied from a theatre in Begusarai district of Bihar.
A police team went to Veena theatre in Tivhra village of Begusarai district. “Theatre owner Diwakar admitted that he colluded with óne Monu, an ex-employee of one of the satellite broadcasters of the movie, and got its copy by recording through the media server,” Mr. Mohanty said. Diwakar was caught while Monu managed to escape. Meanwhile, the police caught Rahul Mehta who had come from Delhi to Hyderabad for negotiations with the film makers. Based on his confession, his associates Jitender Kumar Mehta, Tauffiq and Mohd. Ali, were held in Delhi and brought here. Jitender and Tauffiq were also arrested in 2015 for making pirated copy of Bahubali-The Beginning .
