The police have arrested one person in connection with running a website focussing on pirated copies of Malayalam books.
Dy.SP (Kottayam) V. Ajith said Mohammed Sajad, of Malappuram who was working in Abu Dhabi, had been circulating pirated copies of Malayalam titles through his website www.indianterminal.com.
He had created a Facebook profile named ‘Lolan Thaalukal’ and had launched a group ‘Thaalukal.’ It was through this group that he was inviting readers, Mr. Ajith said.
144 titles
Already 144 titles had been in circulation, including ‘Khasakkinte Ithihasam’ by O.V. Vijayan and ‘Aaraachaar’ by K.R. Meera.
The police said increasing number of hits used to give him better advertisement income. As per preliminary assessment, nearly a hundred thousand people had visited the site.
While some of the pages on the site were scanned from the original print versions, some others were uploaded versions of the soft copies.
“A larger network could be engaged in this crime,” Mr. Ajith said. He said the accused has breached provisions of IT Act and Copyright Act.
Monitoring system
The issue came to light when DC Books, which has a monitoring system, detected this site and complained to the police.
The Kottayam (East) Police, Cyber Cell, and the High Tech Cell at Thiruvananthapuram were on the look-out since March 2014. After identifying the source, they issued a look-out notice.
The Belgian parent company of the Abu Dhabi firm where he was working had taken a firm stance on the issue which had forced him to land in Coimbatore airport after moving an anticipatory bail.
Sajad, who was taken into custody from Coimbatore, was produced before the Chief Judicial Magistrate Court, the police said.
Meanwhile, Ravee Deccee, chief executive, DC Books, said 50 of the 144 titles which went into circulation through the website were published by them. “We believe that the loss on account of online piracy would be more than Rs.50 lakh,” he said.
144 titles on site; some scanned from print, some soft copies
50 titles published by DC Books which alerted the police
Pirated copies of Malayalam titles were available on website
