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Hyderabad News: The accused hacked several government websites in Bihar and Jharkhand as well as the main servers of digital media companies.
Hyderabad News: The Cybercrime Branch of Hyderabad Police has arrested five people, exposing a large racket involved in the piracy of Telugu films. The main accused Ashwini Kumar (21) is a resident of Patna, who has been described as the mastermind behind the leak of HD films before its release in theaters. According to the police, Kumar hacked several government websites in Bihar and Jharkhand as well as the main servers of digital media companies and stole copies of HD films from there. He used to share these films on telegram channels, betting and gaming platforms. These arrests were made during the investigation of piracy of films like ‘Hit: The Third case’, ‘single’, ‘Kubera’ and ‘Hari Har Veera Mallu’. This action was launched on the complaint of the Telugu Film of Commerce (TFCC), which was recorded on 5 June.
Police is investigating
Police discovered HD copies uploaded on major piracy websites, some of which were available even before the network was closed. The investigation is still going on. Police said that piracy in India is mainly operated in two ways – leaking of HD copies from digital service providers and ‘cam release’ handheld camera, smartphone or hidden equipment using the first day recordings in theaters. The accused of Bihar, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh were arrested between June and August this year. Cyril Infant Raj Amalados (32), a crypto businessman from Karur, Tamil Nadu, was identified as the main accused, who operated the racket and coordinated the activities among the accused members. Amalados bought dedicated virtual machine servers abroad to allegedly store pirated films and run piracy websites and telegram channels.
Telugu film industry lost 3,700 crores
The accused also coordinated payment and material uploads using cryptocurrency to ensure confidentiality and oblivion. Police said that Kumar joined the piracy groups on Telegram and introduced Pirated HD films at $ 800 per copy, for which he received payment in cryptocurrency. Amlados recruited others to camsers of films in theaters and upload pirated materials online. Police said that it earned about Rs 2 crore in cryptocurrency since 2020. Uploaded about 500 pirated films and obtained US $ 10,000 per month by allowing advertisements of online gaming and betting sites. Police said that in 2023, the Indian entertainment industry suffered an estimated loss of Rs 22,400 crore due to piracy, with a loss of Rs 3,700 crore to the Telugu film industry alone.
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