Cyber Crime cops blow lid off high-profile film piracy racket
An AC technician nabbed in the city for operating the shady racket
Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police have apprehended a 29-year-old man from East Godavari, Andhra Pradesh found actively involved in a high-profile movie piracy racket. In a span of one and half year, he has recorded and leaked about 40 movies in various theaters across Hyderabad.
Police arrested Jana Kiran Kumar, works as an AC Technician and residing at NGOs Colony, Vanasthalipuram, Ranga Reddy District and native of Andhra Pradesh.
According to police, on June 5, police received a complaint from Yarra Manindra Babu, representing the Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC), Hyderabad. He reported that Telugu film, ‘Single’ (released on May 9, 2025), was illegally pirated and circulated online on the very day of the movie release. Pirated HD versions were traced to popular piracy platforms like 1TamilBlasters, 5MoviezRulz, and 1TamilMV. Preliminary forensic watermarking pointed towards leakage from a theater. The TFCC estimated a staggering Rs 3,700 crore loss to the Telugu film industry in 2024 due to piracy, urging swift investigation and action against broader piracy networks.
Following the complaint, police registered a case under sections 66(C), 66(E) IT Act; Sec. 318(4), r/w 3(5), 338 BNS; Sec. 63, 65 of the Copyright Act, Sec. 6-AA, 6AB, 7(1A) of Cinematograph Act, 1952 (2008) and investigated.
The Cyber Crime police said that the accused found a meme mentioning piracy group 1TamilMV and contacted their recruitment email (Proton mail) and Sent a proposal via email offering to source pirated Telugu content.
The accused has taken all precautions from being tracked by the Investigating Agency by Shifting to Telegram after sharing his Telegram ID. It was assigned to record newly released movies, with agreed payments of USD 300–400 (in cryptocurrency) per movie. Some of the movies filmed are - Pellikani Prasad, 14 days Love, Thandel, Game On, Kismat, Rajadhani Files etc.
The senior officer at Cyber Crime said “Kiran booked tickets online and used his mobile phone, concealed in his shirt pocket, to record the movies in theaters. And later shared the pirated movie files links to handlers on Telegram. He received payments in Bitcoin and converted crypto currency into Indian Rupees using platforms like ZebPay and Coin DCX.”
The Cyber Crime police said that ‘Piracy is a Crime’. Recording or sharing pirated movies is a serious criminal offense under the Copyright Act, 1957. Section 6 AA of Cinematograph Act, Section 6 AB, Section 7 (1) (a). These orders are issued by the Central Government or the Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the violation can result in imprisonment for up to three years, a fine of up to one lakh rupees, or both, along with a further fine of up to twenty thousand rupees for each day the offence continues.
The police urged the public to refrain from engaging in or supporting movie piracy in any form and appealed to report any suspicious activity to the local police authorities or cybercrime police.
