Hyderabad police bust country’s biggest film piracy gang

HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police have busted a major movie piracy racket and arrested five persons allegedly involved in the illegal distribution of Telugu films. Notices were issued to five others for aiding the network. The action followed complaints from the Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) after pirated copies of HIT: The Third Case, #Single, Kuberaa and Hari Hara Veera Mallu surfaced on websites including 1TamilBlasters, 5MoviezRulz and 1TamilMV. Forensic watermarking suggested the content leaked from theatres.

Cases were booked under the IT Act, Copyright Act and Cinematograph Act. Police said the accused operated a nationwide network using Telegram channels, crypto payments and servers based overseas.

The accused

Those arrested include Ashwani Kumar (21, Bihar) for hacking servers to steal HD films; Cyril Infant Raj (32, Tamil Nadu), accused of running 1TamilBlasters and earning ₹2 crore in crypto; Jana Kiran Kumar (29, Andhra) and Sudhakaran (31, Tamil Nadu) for camcording films; and Arsalan Ahmed (23, Bihar/Goa) for uploading pirated files.file-sharing sites. Payments ranged from $135 to $800 per film, police said. Online betting operators financed the network.

Impact and advisory

The film industry lost about ₹22,400 crore in 2023 due to piracy, according to TFCC estimates. Police warned that piracy is punishable with up to three years in jail and a fine of ₹2 lakh. Authorities urged theatres to tighten checks against recording, digital companies to strengthen server security, and intermediaries to act promptly against piracy. Authorities asked citizens to report suspicious activity to cybercrime cells or call the helpline 1930.

The Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre (I4C) helped trace crypto wallet transactions through the Samanvaya portal, which police said was key to cracking the case.