Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police Bust Major Movie Piracy Racket, Five Arrested for Illegal Distribution of Telugu Films
The Hyderabad cybercrime police have busted a major movie piracy network, arresting five key accused involved in the illegal distribution of copyrighted films.
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad cybercrime police have busted a major movie piracy network, arresting five key accused involved in the illegal distribution of copyrighted films.
The racket was linked to popular piracy websites such as 1TamilBlasters, 5MoviezRulz, and 1TamilMV, which had uploaded pirated versions of several Telugu films, including HIT: The Third Case, #Single, Kubera, and Hari Hara Veera Mallu, a police statement said on Monday.
The accused — hailing from Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, and Goa — were engaged in hacking digital media servers and cam-cording movies in theatres to upload high-definition versions online. Investigations revealed that the network operated through Telegram channels, crypto wallets, and virtual machines, with links to online gaming and betting websites.
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It said that the prime accused, Ashwani Kumar of Bihar, hacked servers of digital media companies and shared HD content with other operators, while another accused, Cyril Infant Raj of Tamil Nadu, managed piracy websites and earned over Rs 2 crore in cryptocurrency since 2020 by distributing nearly 500 films. Others acted as camcorders, uploading theatre recordings and receiving payments in crypto.
During the crackdown, police seized laptops, hard disks, mobiles, tablets, pen drives, and other electronic devices used for the offence. The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) assisted in tracking the money trail through cryptocurrency wallets.
Police warned that piracy caused losses of over Rs 22,000 crore to the Indian film industry in 2023 alone, besides posing threats of online fraud and data theft to viewers accessing pirated content. They urged the public to refrain from piracy, noting it is a punishable offence under the Copyright Act and the Cinematograph (Amendment) Act.
The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police stressed that this breakthrough exposed not just Telugu piracy networks but also those affecting Tamil, Kannada, Malayalam, Bollywood, and Hollywood films. They called on production houses, theatres, intermediaries, and digital media companies to strengthen anti-piracy measures.
Citizens were reminded to report any suspicious activity to the Cyber Crime helpline 1930, the statement added.
