In a major development, the Andhra Pradesh CID Police along with the Anti-Video Piracy Cell (AVPC) of AP Film Chamber of Coomerce (APFCC) busted two major nefarious networks that were alleged to have pirated the latest movie titles, causing huge losses to the producers. The sting operation was conducted between June 07–29th as per a press note released by the department. The latest operations were the results of an MoU between the Motion Picture distribution Association (MPDA) and APFCC signed in March 2012.
The first syndicate was busted after the arrest of a person named Rajendra Puvvadi, resident of Chennai. Mr Rajendra and his team specialised in camcording and burning pirated copies of CDs and DVDs. Investigations by the sleuths revealed astronomical figures that the syndicate operations yielded them INR 40,928,015 (USD $716,000).
The second one was busted in Andhra Pradesh. Two individuals Mr. Kathula Chaitanya in Hyderabad and Mr. Praneeth Motamarri in Vijayawada were arrested by the sleuths. And these people have been alleged to be running internet piracy, stationed in Hyderabad. The modus operandi of the internet piracy was simple. They owned three illegal websites through which the latest titles were uploaded to 22 international cyber lockers. Investigations revealed that till date the duo had uploaded over 1450 pirated movies in all languages including Telugu and Hollywood. In total estimates say, that nearly 20.9 Mn illegal downloads have been generated. This could have caused a possible loss of INR 209 Mn to the film industry say sources.
The APFCC and MPDA are thankful to the Addl. DGP CID of Andhra Pradesh Sri.Ramana Murthy and the entire CID team for their swift and efficient action.
Releasing a statement on the occassion the senior members of the three associations have highlighted the following issues.
“In the last one year, with a more focussed approach, the Anti Video Piracy Cell of APFCC has made some significant breakthroughs in combating online and physical piracy. We are being ably supported by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and the Enforcement Agencies. We have been able to forge important partnerships like that of the Motion Picture Distributors Association. With more collaborative efforts with other Indian Film Industries, we are very hopeful that we will be able to root out Piracy in time to come” said Mr. D.Suresh Babu President AP Film Chamber of Commerce.
“We commend the efforts of the local police and our alliance partner APFCC which has resulted in the arrests of 2 major camcording syndicates who were involved in the widespread theft of Hollywood and local titles. We will continue our efforts to target similar syndicates who are the root cause for source piracy.” said Mr. Uday Singh, Managing Director- Motion Picture Dist. Association (India).
“We have been focussing on the four areas of Enforcement, Outreach, Policy making and Capacity building in our fight against Piracy. We are happy that our multipronged approach is bearing results and it enables us move forward with greater confidence. The Production houses are seeing tangible results due to the concerted efforts. The revenues are increasing in the initial weeks when we are able to control piracy. We want to carry a sustained effort in the direction of eradicating Piracy”, said Rajkumar Chairman Anti Video Piracy Cell, APFCC.
It may be noted, on March 23, 2012, the MPA and the APFCC, signed an MoU designed to pool resources and jointly tackle issues such as camcording, online content theft, cable theft, and to promote public awareness and education campaigns on the importance of content protection. (With inputs from internet- AW AarKay)
