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MPA Activities 2004
February 10, 2004: In a sweeping Raid conducted in the walled city of Hyderabad sent jitters in the pirate world. Simultaneous raid and seizure operations conducted by the Special Task Force on the 2 Leading Video Libraries and two big retail outlets resulted in seizure of more than 15000 pirated VCD’s and DVD’s of various Hindi and English cinematograph films.
In a concerted action the Special Task Force conducted a simultaneous Raid and Seizure operation on M/s Shalimar, M/s Music World, M/s Movie Spot and another big retail outlet and seized more than 15000 pirated VCD’s and DVD’s of various Hindi and English cinematograph films. 4 persons were arrested and have been remanded to judicial custody. Those arrested included Ashfaq son of Ashraf (the Managing partner of Shalimar), Niranjan, managing partner M/s Music World).
The said raid has sent jitters in the pirate world and as a result the pirated product is being sold in a very discreet manner.
April 22, 2004 Chennai. Raid at Chennai International Airport: On an information by MPA investigators a gift shop inside the Chennai Airport was successfully raided by the Video Piracy Cell of the Tamil Nadu Police (CBCID), the pirate was caught red handed selling the pirate DVD’s of ‘Passion of Christ’, ‘Lord of the Rings’ amongst other latest MPA titles. This is the first ever-Copyright raid conducted within the premises of an International Airport in India. The Raid resulted in the Seizure of 381 DVD's, 17 VCD's and 17 MP3 CD’s. Investigations have revealed that the source of these pirate optical discs was the notorious Burma Bazaar, Chennai and the National Market, Bangalore. An accomplice of the shop owner is reported to be absconding. The owner of the shop was arrested and later remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Bail application was successfully opposed by MPA legal counsel; as a result the accused is still in jail.
This Raid at the Chennai Airport made headlines in all major local and national news papers (Times of India, Hindu etc.) The Raid was also covered live by Jaya TV a popular Local News Channel.
May 10, 2004 Mumbai: One of the biggest ever raid on CD-Writers was conducted by the Social Service Branch (Crime Branch) of Mumbai Police on a CD-R Burning facility/unit, resulting in seizure of 30 (thirty) CD-R Burners and over 5585 pirated CD-R’s of various Hindi and English films besides computers with accessories. Master prints of latest Hollywood films, which had not even been released in India, were seized. One Mr. Shanaazbanu Mohammed Yasin Sheikh was caught red-handed making pirated prints of latest films. Significantly this information was developed from the reward scheme. A case vide FIR No. 06/2004 has been registered in Police Station Social Service Branch (Crime Branch) and the accused was remanded to Judicial custody by the Magistrate.
This type of a unit does not cost the pirate more than Rs. 2,00,000/- but the damage caused to the copyright owner is immense. According to an estimate one single CD-R burner (52X-Speed - 20 pirate discs per hour) operating on an average for 10 hours a day is likely to produce 200 pirate CD’s and working for a week the output can be as high as 1400 CD’s. Working a 30 days /month can result in 6000 CD-R’s being produced each month In a year the output can be a staggering 73,000 CD-R’s. If this figure is multiplied by 30 CD-R Burners which were seized, once can see that the seizure has brought to a grinding halt a Unit /CD-R Burning facility capable of producing astronomical 21,90,000 pirated CD’s in a single year i.e. 10,95,000 pirated films of MPA member companies.
May 05-15, 2004 New Delhi: the concept of Suo-motu (ex officio) raid and seizure operations was taken forward and the concept is gaining ground with the Local police also. Upon training received by MPA lawyers’ series of raid and seizure operations were conducted for the first time by the South District and Central District Police forces in Delhi.
In a Raid conducted by the District Investigation Unit (South District) on May 05, 2004 Mr. Naresh Arora owner of M/s K.P.Videos, Hauz Khas, New Delhi was arrested for running a completely illegal and unauthorized rental library dealing in pirate as well as parallel import product. The raid resulted in seizure of over 1000 DVD’s and 223 CD-R’s of various latest Hollywood and Bollywood titles. The Area Magistrate remanded the accused to judicial custody for 14 days. This was the first Suo-motu raid by Local Police in South District.
In a Raid conducted by the District Investigation Unit (Central District) on May 14, 2004, two shopkeepers at Gaffar Market, Karol Bagh, New Delhi were caught red handed making available for sale pirated DVD’s and CD-R’s. In total over 700 DVD’s (of 1x3 and 1x7 configuration) and close to 400 CD-R’s of latest Hollywood films were recovered. According to information revealed by the accused the DVD’s were illegally imported from Malaysia. This was the first Suo-motu raid and seizure operation conducted by Local Police in Central District
May 19, 2004 New Delhi: In one of the biggest ever raids, the Special Team of Crime Branch Delhi Police seized over 8000 pirated DVD's of various latest MPA member companies titles and latest Bollywood titles. Significantly the DVD's seized are of 1x3, 1x4, 1x5, 1x6 and 1x7 configuration. This is the largest haul of pirated DVDs in the history of anti piracy operations in India. It shows a growing trend on the shift from the VCD format to the DVD format.
May 23-25, 2004 Hyderabad: On an information by MPA investigators series of raid and seizure operations were conducted in the twin city of Hyderabad and Secunderabad by the CM’s Special Task Force on 4 rental libraries resulting in seizure of over 2700 VCD’s of various English and Hindi cinematograph films. This created a major impact in the city and a result the libraries remained closed for 2 days.
May 31, 2004 New Delhi: In a suo-motu raid and seizure operation the Connaught Place Police under the direct supervision of Dr. Anita Roy IPS, DCP (New Delhi District) seized more than 5000 optical discs and caught one Gyanendra, red handed, making available for sale the pirated copies of the cinematograph films of latest Bollywood and Hollywood titles. The Magistrate remanded the accused to Police custody for conducting more raids as a result of which the Palika Bazaar remained closed for over 4 days. As a counter to this raid the crime branch also conducted raid. The pirates did not have a normal business for over a week after the raid.
On the tip off by the MPA
investigators a Special Team of Crime Branch, Delhi Police raided the godown in
the Rani Bagh area of Delhi, which is a residential colony in North Delhi. The
police arrested one Himanshu alias Babloo. The Police after preliminary
interrogation have ascertained that the accused smuggle these pirated DVD's from
Nepal. These DVDs are suspected to originate from Malaysia and Pakistan and
were meant for distribution through outlets in the notorious Palika Bazar market
in central
June 01, 2004 Trivandrum: On an information by MPA representative, a suo motu raid and seizure operation was conducted by the Nedumangadu Police under the direct instruction of the rural SP Mr. Balaram Upadhay on the outskirts of Trivandrum at Vinees Videos resulting in a seizure of 2472 VCD’s and 69 DVD’s. The same evening, under the direct instruction of the SP Mr. Balaram Upadhay who was also incharge of the Trivandrum city in the absence of the City Police Commissioner, the Museum Policed raided Video Track supposed to be a sister concern of the notorious Welgates on the information of MPA representative and seized a total of 7428 VCD’s and 315 DVD’s including the latest releases of Bollywood, Hollywood and other regional language films. The seizure went well past midnight. The raids and seizure operation resulted in the video library association of Trivandrum city going on a hartal the following day protesting against the raids conducted and demanding that the Police stop conducting raids. All the Video Libraries remained closed for two days.
June 5, 2004 Mangalore: The Superintendent of Police Mr. Pankaj Kumar Thankur conducted a raid and seizure operation on Pooja Videos, a video parlour while they were screening the new film Hum Tum. Previously on the 3rd of June 2004, the SP raided another video parlour screening pornographic films. Two men were caught red handed and arrested. All the video parlours have stopped pasting posters all over the town and they have it only outside their theatre premises. The SP has also promised more raids on the video parlours in Mangalore post this raid.
June 7, 2004 Trichy: The Trichy wing of the Video Piracy cell under the direct instructions of the Superintendent of Police Mr. Thirugnanam conducted a suoraid and seizure operation on a CD R unit which resulted in a seizure of 7 CD R writers and 2000 VCD’s. This was a first of its kind operation by the Video Piracy Cell, Trichy.
June 1-10, 2004 Chennai: The Video Piracy Cell under the instructions of the Superintendent of Police Mr. Thirugnanam conducted series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations in the notorious Burma Bazaar which resulted in a seizure of more than 5000 VCD’s and 1500 DVD’s.
June 15, 2004, Bangalore: In a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations the Center for Crime Branch (CCB) Bangalore Police seized over 5300 VCD’s and 1800 DVD’s from 4 rental libraries operating from the posh localities of Koramangala and JP Nagar. The operations were going on smooth until at the 5 place, a library in JP Nagar, the legal advisor to MPA in Bangalore Mr. Rajesh Ramanathan, who had gone to be a part of the raiding team at the request of the CCB inspectors to identify the pirated VCD’s and DVD’s, was bashed up by the Shopkeepers and his supporters who clearly outnumbered the Police and while Mr. Rajesh was being surrounded and being beaten up, the inspectors of CCB stood there as mute spectators and did nothing to either first to prevent nor later to stop the miscreants. The miscreants had a free hand at him. Mr. Rajesh Ramanathan made a complaint to the JP Nagar Police Station against the miscreants and a case FIR No. 210 of 2004 was registered under section 143, 342, 323, 324, 506 read with 149 IPC. Surprisingly here also the CCB did not make any complaint to the local police and it was their reluctance which prompted the pirate to make a false complaint to the Police against Mr. Rajesh for trespass, hurt and intimidation. The complaint of the pirate was also transformed into FIR bearing No. 211 of 2004 under section 448, 323, 504 read with 34.
June 20, 2004 Mangalore: The Superintendent of Police Mr. Pankaj Kumar Thakur conducted a suo-motu raid and seizure operation on Pooja Videos, a video parlour while they were screening the new film Lakshaya. This Pooja Videos was raided once earlier on June 05, 2004 and is notorious for illegally exhibiting the latest films produced by the member companies of MPA. MPA will now approach the Deputy Commissioner for cancellation of License of this Video Parlour.
June 20-23, 2004 Shimoga, Karnataka: In a suo-motu action by the SP, Shimoga district, 3 Video Parlours were raided in Shimoga screening the latest MPA flicks. The Parlours were closed for more than a week. The details of the Parlours raided are here under:
1. Sagar Video Parlour, Park Extension, Shimoga. 2. Manoranjan Video Theatre, Durgigudi, Shimoga. 3. Durga Delux Theatre, Honnali Road, Shimoga
The SP Mr. K Sreenivas has assured that he will not permit any unauthorized screening of cinematograph films by these Video Parlours.
June 20-30, 2004 Chennai: The Video Piracy Cell under the instructions of the Superintendent of Police Mr. Thirugnanam and direct supervision of DSP Mr. Pannerselvam, conducted around 10 suo-motu raid and seizure operations in the notorious Burma Bazaar which resulted in a seizure of more than 5000 VCD’s and 1500 DVD’s.
July 02, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid conducted by the Video Piracy Cell, Mr. Thameem, the owner of a completely illegal and unauthorized Retail outlet in Chennai operating under the name and style of M/s Alai Osai, was arrested red-handed making sale of pirated MPA titles. The Raid resulted in a Seizure of over 400 pirated VCD’s and a case vide FIR No. 144/04 has been registered. Significantly this target was served with the warning letter by MPA in the month of March 2004. The MPA lawyers have provided a list of Targets to the Police and the Police has been conducting suo-motu / ex-officio raid and seizure operations on these.
Other such targets, served with the C&D by MPA, and raided suo-motu by the Police are as under.
M/s New Disc World, No.17, Narasinghapuram Street, Mount Road, Chennai Raided suo-motu by Video Piracy Cell, Chennai on April 17, 2004 vide FIR No. 68 / 2004 Police Station Video Piracy Cell
M/s Digital Home, Wallers Road, Mount Road, Chennai, Raided suo-motu by the Video Piracy Cell, Chennai on July 19, 2004 vide FIR No. 164/2004 Police Station Video Piracy Cell
July 03-07, Trivandrum: On MPA initiative, a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations were conducted in the city of Trivandrum under the instructions of the Director General of Police, Kerala Mr. P K Hormis Tharakan and under direct supervision of the Commissioner of Police Mr. Balram Upadhaya IPS. More than 10 video libraries were raided and over 20000 pirated VCD’s and DVD’s were recovered. The MPA legal counsels gave a list to the Commissioner of Police TVM disclosing the names of errant video libraries. The commissioner assured that he shall be conducting more raids. The raids attracted wide press coverage and the pirates are now afraid to keep out the pirate product openly. The MPA Counsels have even received the feelers from the Local film Industry for joining hands to fight piracy
July 07, 2004 Chennai: The Video Piracy Cell under the instructions of the its new Superintendent of Police Mr. Avi Prakash conducted suo-motu raid and seizure operations on 3 shops in the notorious Burma Bazaar which resulted in a seizure of more than 5000 VCD’s and 1500 DVD’s. The new SP is very promising and has assured more raids in future. It is pertinent to mention that DVD Express, a leading Video rental library in the city of Chennai known for its discreet pirate activities was also raided and over 300 pirated DVD’s were recovered.
July 09-11 Chickmagalur: The SP after understanding the piracy situation in his district and also the provisions of law from MPA Counsel, immediately directed the Addl. SP to organize raid and seizure operations.
On Saturday the July 10, 2004, under the direct supervision of the Additional SP, 18 suo-motu raid and seizure operations were conducted simultaneously on 4 video parlours blatantly exhibiting the films produced by the member companies of MPA and 14 video libraries dealing in pirate material, in the entire Chickmaglur district. Raids resulted in seizure of entire equipment used for exhibition in video parlours and over 5000 pirated VCD’s. In all 18 persons (all owners) were arrested. MPA is now proposing to take this up with the Deputy Commissioner of Chickmaglur for cancellation of the license of these errant Video Parlours. The raids attracted a vide press coverage and this successful operation has instilled fear in the mind of the pirates.
July 12, 2004 Nehru Place: A suo-moto raid and seizure operation was conducted by the South District Police in the Nehru Place market in New Delhi resulting in seizure of over 1438 MPA titles. In this particular case the methodology used by the Pirates was unique. To escape the eyes of the Police there was no person or shop in the market stocking pirated material and every day a different persons were used to bring in the pirate material into the market, more than 5 different persons were used each day. Each morning a Van used to pick these person from various parts of the city and bring them to market. Each person will be having a bagful of pirated CD's with him which will then be distributed to the counters and shop owners. The MPA investigators had a tough time identifying the source of the piracy till the time they identified the timing of the Van. Thereafter discussing with the Police a trap was laid and one person named Nekpal, at whose behest all this was being done was arrested. A case vide FIR No. 112/2004 was registered in Police Station Kalkaji, New Delhi.
July 12, 2004 Tumkur: A Suo-motu raid and seizure operation was conducted on the only video parlour operational in the Tumkur town. Aar Kay Video theatre was raided by the Local Police following the receipt of a circular from IGP CoD, which was issued on the representation made by the MPA counsels. It is pertinent to mention that the circular was issued to the SP’s of seven districts where in the SP’s were specifically directed that MPA counsels be provided with all necessary assistance. The SP directed the DySP to organize raids for the MPA legal Counsel.
July 13, 2004 Trivandrum: Reports of 3 more raids were received. The Kerala Police has conducted suo-motu raid and seizure operations on 3 more video libraries. These video libraries figure in the list, which was handed over to the Commissioner of Police Trivandrum by the MPA legal counsel. A large number of pirated VCD’s and DVD’s were seized.
MPA’s Southern Spice: 35 ex officio raids in South India in a span of 10 days from 3rd July – 13th July Encouraged by the enhanced funding, MPA formally launched its Southern India operations with a bang. Working under direct instructions from the Director General of Police, Cereal Mr. P.K. Hermes Thracian I.P.S. and direct supervision of the city Police Commissioner Mr. Balaam Upadhaya, the Trivandrum police conducted a series of ex office raid and seizure operations in the city of Trivandrum. Between 3rd July and 7th July 10 actions were undertaken resulting in seizure of more than 20000 pirated VCD’s and DVD’s. The raids were widely reported in the local media created a huge fear factor in the minds of the pirates in the entire state. The result was that all the Video rental libraries in the city of Trivandrum went on a strike protesting against the raids and demanded the Police and MPA to stop conducting the raid and seizure operations. Unaffected by such acts, MPA representatives submitted a list of video libraries stocking pirate product which further assisted the Police Commissioner to supervise three more raids in the city on the 13th of July resulting in a seizure of a sizable quantity of VCD’s and DVD’s. Kerela is incidentally one of the more prosperous States in the country with literacy rates of almost hundred percent.
Continuing its onslaught on piracy in other Southern Indian States, MPA lawyers convinced the Superintendent of Police to conduct suo motu raid and seizure operations in the district of Chikmaglur in state of Karnataka. Under the instructions of the Superintendent of Police Mr. B.K. Singh I.P.S. and direct supervision of the Additional Superintendent of Police Mr. M.N. Nagaraj, the Chikmaglur district police simultaneously raided 4 video parlours blatantly exhibiting MPA titles and 14 video rental libraries indulging in blatant piracy resulting in a recovery of more than 5000 pirated VCD’s and all the 18 accused were arrested and taken into custody. All the equipments used for the public performance by the errant video parlours were also seized.
A raid was also conducted on a video parlour in the Tumkur District of Karnataka with the help of the Superintendent of Police Mr. Muniswamy. This has put an end to the video parlour menace in the town of Tumkur as the four other video parlours remain closed for the past 6 months due to the pressure from MPA.
Still further, in the State of Tamil Nadu, MPA representatives met with the Superintendent of Police, Video Piracy Cell, Chennai. The ex office raid and seizure operation emanating from this meeting conducted under the direct supervision of the Deputy Superintendent of Police Mr. Panneerselvam, in the notorious Burma bazaar resulted in a seizure of over 2500 pirated VCD’s and DVD’s of the latest MPA member companies’ titles and other regional language films as well.
To sum up, the MPA in the first two weeks of July had in all 35 suo motu raid and seizure operation in the three Southern Indian alone. MPA strategy of suo motu/ ex officio raids were well received and whole heartedly appreciated by the Enforcement authorities in South India and they have even committed themselves to continue the operations on their own in the future.
July 16, 2004 Greater Kailash, New Delhi: A raid was conducted by DIU cell, on a Video Library stocking pirated material in Greater Kailash Part - I, two persons were caught red handed selling and giving on rent pirated VCD's of latest MPA memos titles. In all 961 pirated VCD's were seized and 2 persons, Zahid and Suraj Kumar were arrested. A case vide FIR No. 184/2004 has been registered in Police Station GK-I, New Delhi.
July 17, 2004 Palika Bazaar, New Delhi: On the information of MPA investigators, the Local police conducted series of suomotu raids on 3 counters in Palika Bazaar at Shop Nos A-10, A-11, S-36 arresting three persons Kamal Kr., Shailendra Kr. and Sonu and seizing close to 500 pirated DVD's and VCD's from them. A case vide FIR No. 401/2004 has been registered in Police Station Connaught Place, New Delhi.
August 23, 2004 New Delhi: Pained by large scale piracy in Delhi of its films, and lack of sufficient actions by the Delhi Police, the MPA initiated a formal complaint before a Magistrate and obtained a general search and seizure order for all of Delhi. The Deputy Commission of Police (Crime) has been directed to investigate the complaint.
Mr. Manoj Jain, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, Delhi, upon the Complaint being marked to him, considering the seriousness of the matter immediately directed the DCP (Crime) to investigate the matter while granting the General Search & Seizure Warrants u/s 93 & 94 Cr.P.C. to facilitate the investigation in the effective manner.
The affect of the order is that Police is now duty bound to conduct investigations as also conduct search and seizure raid operations all over Delhi. MPA investigators acting under directions of the law firm of Lall & Sethi shall be providing more information to the police in this regard to assist their investigation. It is expected that shops in Palika Bazaar will be the primary targets, where, according to estimates over 70 shops deal in piracy of MPA member company films.
This is the first ever action wherein MPA has initiated this type of a criminal complaint. The information concerning this order has already reached many pirates, which in itself is a huge deterrent.
August 30, 2004, Chennai: Top Notch, a video library in Anna Nagar Chennai was raided by the Video Piracy Cell on our initiation and the raid effected a seizure of 698 dvd's and 2026 vcd's and has been valued at Rs. 7, 42,000. This library is a notorious one and this was also in the list provided by Muslim. Infact he called me last week and gave me two targets including this one. All the libraries in the Anna Nagar area remained shut for the whole day. Other than this raid, the VPC has conducted over 25 suo motu raids in the month of August 2004 all over Chennai.
September 02-10, 2004 New Delhi: A series of suo-motu raids were conducted by Economic Offences Wing of the Connaught Place Police Station, New Delhi The shop Nos 140 A, A-23 and 51 were raided and their owners arrested selling pirated prints of films produced by member companies of MPA.
September, 05, 2004 New Delhi: Sometimes law enforcers themselves become law breakers. MPA authorized investigators holding Power of Attorneys (POA) from the MPA, joined up with the pirates and turned against the MPA. They refused to give up the POAs granted in their favour and even initiated legal proceedings against the MPA.
Under these compelling circumstances the MPA initiated counter legal proceedings against two investigators. The Courts in Delhi have passed a decree of permanent injunction restraining the investigators from further acting upon the POA. The court also directed the investigators to hand over the original POA to MPA. The court categorically stated that w.e.f from August 1, 2000 the investigators were not authorized to act on behalf of MPA in any manner whatsoever. The court has also ordered that the investigators are required to issue a notification in all leading newspapers of the country confirming that they no longer hold any authorization from the MPA.
The appeal period for the investigators to appeal this decision expired on September 5, 2004. No appeal has been preferred by the investigators as yet, and the decree has accordingly attained finality. MPA now intends to initiate proceedings for execution of the decree.
Learning from this experience the MPA has almost shifted its entire criminal enforcement strategy to having suo motu (ex officio) raids conducted by the police. By this means, no POAs are required to be issued to investigators as the police becomes the complainant. Already over 300 such actions have been initiated by the police.
September 14, 2004 New Delhi: In a significant achievement in its civil action strategy, the MPA finally achieved its first success in recovering damages. In response to a decree passed by the Delhi High Court a rental library owners has paid the MPA Rs. 5,00,000 (approx. US$ 11000) as liquidated damages and costs. The library owner had filed several cross action against the MPA attorneys making wild accusations. In a final settlement the library owner has formally acknowledged and admitted on oath that all allegations against the MPA raised by him were completely false. The library owner today suffers a decree of permanent injunction by virtue of which he is not permitted to conduct any rental business of MPA member company titles without a written authorization from the individual members.
The money recovered by MPA shall be donated to the Police fund which, it is hoped, will be used by the police for assisting anti piracy operations
Shop No. 75, A - Bazaar, Burma Bazaar was raided suo motu on 07.12.2004 by the Video Piracy Cell (VPC) in Chennai. Two were arrested and a 300 DVD's and 790 vcd's were seized. A case vide Crime No. 302 is registered.
Shop No. 165, A- Bazaar was raided suo motu on 07.12.2004 by the VPC, Chennai. The police seized 10 DVD's, 39 vcd's and 100 ACD's. Two were arrested and a case vide FIR No. 304 is registered.
A suo motu raid was conducted by the VPC, Chennai on Balaji Electricals, No.2, Narasinghapuram Street, Mount Road, Chennai on 09.12.2004. The raid resulted in a seizure of 185 MP3's, and 64 VCD's. One Ravikumar was arrested and a case vide FIR NO. 306/04 is registered.
A suo motu raid was cos conducted by the VPC, Chennai on 10.12.2004 on Gandhi Nagar Videos, Gandhi Nagar, Adyar, Chennai-20. The raid resulted in a seizure of 586 VCD's and 180 DVD's. Shanmugam the owner was taken into custody and a case vide FIR No. 307/04 has been registered.
October 01, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at shop no: 280, Burma Bazaar, Rajaji salai, Chennai, one Soosai Muthu was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films. The raid resulted in seizure of 2029 pirated VCD’s. A case vide Crime no :262/04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 13, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at Indra Video Library, 99-G,Sengalu Neerotari St, Kancheepuram, one Ramesh was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films. The raid resulted in seizure of 480 pirated VCD’s. A case vide Crime no :269/04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 14, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at Balaji Videos, 262,EH Road, Vysarpadi, Chennai –31, one G Balaji was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films The raid resulted in seizure of 45 DVD’s & 326 pirated VCD’s. A case vide Crime no: 270/04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 14, 2004 New Delhi: On the information of MPA Investigators a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations were conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in the notorious Palika Bazaar Market, New Delhi.
A series of simultaneous suo-motu raid and seizure operations on Shop Nos A-17, A-15 and A-13 were conducted just before noon and the shop owners Ravi Tomar, Ajay Yadav and Ratan Kumar were arrested for making available for sale pirate copies of the latest Hollywood and Hollywood films. The Breakup of the seizure from the respective shops is as under:
A-17: 822 Vic’s A-15: 437 Vic’s and 64 DVD’s A-13: 409 Vic’s
A case vide FIR No. 770 / 2004 has been registered in Police Station Co naught Place, New Delhi. The market remained half-open and half closed the following day.
A case vide F.I.R No 49 of
2004 has been registered at the
October 17, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at King videos-F-47-Annagar East, Chennai 102, one Vengatesam was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films. The raid resulted in seizure of 247 pirated VCD’s. A case vide Crime no: 272 /04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 20, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at Touch Gents Wear, No 22/37,Padavattamman Kovil Street, Padi Chennai 50, one Mani Kandan was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films The raid resulted in seizure of 184 VCD’s. A case vide Crime no: 273/04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 21, 2004 Chennai: In a Raid and Seizure operation conducted at Friends Enterprises,CD Park, No 175,Sudhanandha Barathi Street, Irumealiyur,East Tambaram, Chennai -59, one Manohar was arrested for making available for sale pirated copies of the films The raid resulted in seizure of 226 VCD’s. A case vide Crime no :274/04 was registered in the Video Piracy Cell
October 21, 2004 Mumbai: In a raid and seizure operation conducted on Complaint of the MPA investigators, Mumbai Police arrested Mr. Sambu Singh Tribuvandas Singh from Readsure Library at Kalina Kurla Road, Santacruz (E), Mumbai, making available for sale and hire the pirated copies of the latest MPA titles in VCD and DVD format. Over 250 VCD’s and 178 DVD’s were seized. Prominent amongst the titles seized are Collateral, iRobot, KillBill2 etc., A Case vide FIR No. 1680 of 2004 is registered at Vakola Police Station, Mumbai.
October 23, 2004 Mumbai: In a raid and seizure operation conducted on Complaint of the MPA investigators, Mumbai Police arrested one Mr. Sharafat Ali Fakir Mohd. Hodekar owner of M/s Raj CD Corner, Opp. Bombay University, M.G.Road, Fort, Mumbai, making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest MPA titles in VCD and DVD format. Close to 900 VCD’s and 214 DVD’s were seized. Significantly the DVD’s seized are mostly of 4 in 1, 5 in 1 and 6 in 1 types. Prominent amongst the titles seized are latest blockbusters Collateral, Fahrenheit 9/11, KillBill2 etc., A Case vide FIR No. 2941 of 2004 is registered at MRA Marg Police Station, Mumbai. The Accused arrested shall be produced before the area Magistrate tomorrow
October 25, 2004 Delhi: On the information of MPA Investigators a series of raid and seizure operations were conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, on two CD-R Burner (writer) units resulting in seizure of 8 CD-R Burners (writers) and 1413 CDR’s.
Raid conducted on Monday afternoon on one Rajender @ Johny resident of C-1844 Jahangir Puri, Delhi resulted in Seizure of 1X1 CD-R Burner (writer) 353 CD-R’s of latest films, 352 MP3 CD’s, 1200 inlay cards and 1 UPS and the raid conducted on one Gopal resident of B-1856, Jahangir Puri, Delhi resulted in seizure of 1X7 CD-R Burner (writer) 663 CD-R’s of latest films, 45 Blank CD’s and 750 inlay cards. Both the accused were arrested and a case vide FIR No. 778 of 2004 is registered in Police Station Jahangir Puri, Delhi
Accused were produced before the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Ms. Madhu Jain today and their bail application was successfully opposed by the MPA lawyer. The accused were then remanded to Judicial Custody for 14 days. Their bail applications are now listed for October 27, 2004.
According to the information available these pirates used to supply their pirated stocks to Palika Bazaar and Lajpat Rai markets and also that these units were in operation for the past 3-4 months. Further information is awaited.
Burma Bazar, Chennai (October 25, 2004): On information supplied by MPA investigators, a suo motu raid was conducted yesterday on shop No. 298 in Burma Bazaar in Chennai. A total of 8000 discs were seized of which around 5000 were of tamil films and around 2000 were MPA member company titles. About a 1000 discs were of films in their regional languages.
Since the recent ordinance passed by the Tamil Nadu government against piracy, the MPA investigations have disclosed that the modus operandi of the Burma Bazaar shops dealing in pirate product has changed. They keep the shutters of their shops down and place one salesman nearby. When a customers approaches them they open the shop and hand over the pirate product. This information was supplied by MPA investigators to the Video Piracy Cell and the raid was thereafter planned and conducted keeping this in mind.
The SP has now requested Rajesh to check the market again thoroughly and keep him informed. Investigators have been put in place to keep an eye on the market.
October 26, 2004 Mumbai: On the Complaint of the MPA investigators a raid and seizure operation was conducted by the Colaba Police Station, Mumbai late Tuesday evening and the proceedings continued till about 11.30 PM. One Vinay Singh Kuvar Singh was caught red handed making available for sale and hire the pirated copies of the latest Hollywood films. The accused was solely dealing in Hollywood films as is apparent from the Seizure, out of 684 VCD’s seized 670 were MPA titles and only 14 titles were of latest Bollywood films. A case vide FIR No. 872/2004 was registered in Police Station Colaba, Mumbai
October 27, 2004 New Delhi: A raid and seizure operation was conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in Palika Bazaar, pursuant to the directions issued by ACMM on a complaint filed by MPA. Raid conducted on the Shop Nos. 261 & 263 Palika Bazaar resulted in a seizure of 669 DVD’s of latest MPA titles, 450 MP3’s and 17 Porn CD’s. Two persons namely Sunil Malhotra and Jitender Kumar were arrested for making available for sale these pirated DVD’s VCD’s and MP3 CD’s to the members of general public. Both accused were produced before ACMM and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Their bail applications was opposed by MPA Lawyer.
October 27, 2004 Chennai: On the information of the MPA investigators the Video Piracy Cell in Chennai conducted suo motu raid and seizure operation on shop No. 50, Burma Bazaar, wherein the seizure included 15 Tamil DVD'S, 25 telugu DVD'S 260 English DVD'S and 15 Hindi DVD'S. One Abdul Majeed was arrested from the spot. A case vide FIR No.. 278/04 had been registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
October 28, 2004 New Delhi: On the information of MPA investigators a suo-motu raid and seizure operation was conducted by the District Investigation Unit (South District), Delhi Police on a VCD & DVD rental and retail outlet operating in a posh South Delhi Colony.
Mr. Gulshan Jhurani and 6 of his operatives/employees were caught red handed for making available for sale and rent the pirated / infringing copies of the cinematograph films produced by member companies of MPA. The raid at The Disc Club, N-11, Greater Kailash Part – I, New Delhi resulted in seizure of over 1450 pirated/infringing DVD’s, 88 pirated VCD’s and 54 empty cover boxes. The prominent among the titles seized are Around the World in 80 days (Jackie Chan), Shrek – 2, Spiderman-2 etc Significantly all these titles and more figure in the MPA’s Absolute Infringement List of October 2004 (i.e. these titles have not been released in the home video format anywhere in the world).
The outlet boasted of over 1700 clients and 2500 titles. The outlet had its reach in whole of South Delhi and Gurgaon. A case vide FIR No. 264 of 2004 has been registered in Police Station Greater Kailash Part – I, New Delhi. All 7(seven) accused shall be produced before the magistrate today.
November 01, 2004 New Delhi: A suo-motu raid and seizure operation was conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police in Lajpat Rai Market on shop / stall Nos. 148 & 59. Two persons, Deepak Chaudhary and Kashi Pershad, were arrested for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films and MP3 songs to the members of general public. Raid resulted in a seizure of 344 pirated VCD’s and 838 MP3 CD’s significantly over 2,70,000 Inlay Cards of the latest to be released films were recovered.
November 02, 2004 Chennai: On the information of the MPA investigators the Video Piracy Cell in Chennai conducted suo motu raid and seizure operation on two shops in Burma Bazaar. Raid on the shop No. 14/2, Burma Bazaar resulted in arrest of one Mr. Shajahan and the police seized 375 Tamil VCD'S, 805 English VCD'S and 20 Hindi VCD'S altogether. A case vide FIR No. 279/04 has been registered. The raid on the shop No. 14/4, Burma Bazaar resulted in seizure including 671 Tamil VCD'S, I80 English DVD'S and 64 Hindi DVD'S. One Manivannan was caught red handed making available for sale the pirated copies of the films. A case vide FIR No. 280/04 is registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
November 03, 2004 Mumbai: On the complaint of the MPA investigators police of MRA Marg Police Station conducted raid and seizure operation on a wholesaler located in Manish Market, Opp. Crawford Market, Mumbai, one Shabbir Siddiqui Qureshi was arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD and DVD format to the members of general public. Raid resulted in a seizure of 314 pirated VCD’s and 141 DVD a case vide FIR No. 3050 of 2004 has been registered in Police Station MRA Marg Mumbai.
November 04, 2004 Chennai: Shop No. 10/5, in Burma Bazaar was raided by the Video Piracy cell in Chennai on the information of MPA investigators. The raid resulted in seizure of English VCD's - 2280, Hindi VCD's - 2010, Telugu VCD's - 250, Tamil VCD's - 650, Malayalam VCD’s - 340 and English DVD's - 60, Tamil DVD's - 70 along with 1500 Inlay cards were seized. One Arokiasamy and another Yusuf Ali were arrested. The owner Abdul Saleem is still absconding. A case wide cc no. 282/04 has been registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
November 06, 2004 Chennai: In an another raid was conducted on the information of MPA investigators, by Video Piracy Cell on Mars Audio in Ritchie Street Munt Road Chennai resulting in a seizure of 102 VCD's including 94 Tamil, 8 English and MP3 cd's 25. One Mayeer Sherif was arrested and a case wide CC No. 283/04 has been registered in the Video Piracy Cell.
November 10, 2004 New Delhi: In series of Raid and Seizure operations on the CD-R Burning Units on the information of MPA investigators, Crime Branch of Delhi Police seized 29 CD-R Burners (Writers) arresting two persons for making pirate copies of the latest films and MP3’s.
In a raid conducted at C-I / 751, Top Floor, Madangir, Delhi, one Mr. Kishan Lal S/o Mr. Moti Lal was caught red handed burning latest films and MP3’s. The Seizure included 16 CD- Burners (Writers), 615 CD-R’s , 402 Blank CD-R’s and 1620 inlay cards. And in a raid and seizure operation conducted at House No. 414, Ground Floor, Near Main Bus Stand, Village Devali, Delhi resulted in arrest of one Mr. Vipin Kumar Gupta s/o Ram Charan Gupta, caught red handed making pirate copies of the latest films. The Seizure included 13 CD-R Burners (writers).
A case vide FIR No. 595 of 2004 was registered against the accused at Police Station Ambedkar Nagar, New Delhi. Both the accused were remanded to police custody by the Magistrate and further recovery is expected.
November 18, 2004Report on Anti – Piracy activities in Tamil NaduSince the Tamil Nadu Governor’s promulgation amending the Prevention of Dangerous Activities of Bootleggers, Drug Offenders, Forest offenders, Goondas, Immoral Traffic Offenders, Slum Grabbers Act to include Video Pirates, piracy has decreased to a large extent. Local Exhibitors report (through the newspapers) huge turnout of public to theatres and an increase of 30% in ticket sales since the last one month. This doesn’t mean that piracy is eradicated from the state of Tamil Nadu. The notorious Burma Bazaar and Ritchie street, the hub of Piracy in Chennai still run their business in a discreet manner. MPA investigations have shown that the pirates keep their shutters closed and place a salesman by the side of the closed shop. As and when any customer approaches them, they open the shop and sell pirated versions of all the new releases including the new Tamil releases. The traders in Burma Bazaar tried very hard to pacify the Chief Minister and the local film industry by releasing statements in the local media that they are willing to pay the local film producers for legally releasing the movies in the video formats and demanding that the film industry should not object to piracy in other Indian and vernacular languages. The film producers and the South India Film Chamber of Commerce together refused to heed to their offer. For some time in the first week of October, the crime branch police in Tamil Nadu did not allow any rental outlets to run their business for more than a week including those that stocked the genuine parallel imports. The crime branch reasoned that the licenses issued by the City Police Commissioner only permitted the rental outlets to circulate Video Cassettes and not VCD’s and DVD’s. Aggrieved by these actions, a few rental outlets like Cinema Paradiso, RIC etc, moved the Madras High Court. The High Court on a writ filed by the above rental outlets, directed the police to allow those rental outlets having licenses to run without any hassle. At the same time the High Court also observed that the Police cannot be stopped from conducting regular checkups under the Copyright act and if any violation is found, this direction shall not deter the police from initiating legal action. There are also reports that the Police Commissioner is refusing to renew any licenses for the rental outlets saying that he is expecting the law to be amended to include VCD’s and DVD’s in the licenses. The Video Piracy Cell, which is part of the CBCID(Crime Branch – Crime Investigation Department) head quartered in Chennai, is extremely vigilant and regular conducts raid and seizure operations. However, the Local Crime Branch has not continued with the raids that it conducted immediately after the pronouncement of the Chief Minister. It is only the Video Piracy Cell functioning under the Director General of Police (Crimes) are vigilant and the MPA coordinates with the Superintendent of Police Mr. Avi Prakash in its enforcement activities. On November 08, 2004 the Local Tamil Film Industry felicitated the Chief Minister for saving the local film industry from the clutches of the pirates. The function was telecast in Jaya TV (a satellite channel which was actually started by the chief ministers political party). All the speakers at the function, hailed the Chief Minister for taking such a bold step and putting an end to the menace of Piracy. Even though piracy is still very much alive, the local industry feels that it has been eradicated completely. MPA representative Rajesh Ramanathan gave a presentation to the board members of the South India Film Chamber of Commerce and the members of the Tamil Film Producers Council in October, wherein the need for an effective concerted antipiracy activity was stressed. It was strategically agreed that the local film industry would work with MPA to educate the society about the harmful effects of piracy and on the enforcement activities as well.
November 18, 2004 New Delhi: on the information of MPA investigators a series of raid and seizure operations were carried out late evening in the Karol Bagh, New Delhi by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. Raids conducted at the 3 premises of one Shashikant S/o Shri Brijnath Sharma, 152 MCD Market, Karol Bagh, New Delhi resulted in seizure of over 2700 VCD’s & 500 DVD’s of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films the seizure also included over 100 MP3 CD’s. Shashikant was arrested and shall be produced before the magistrate on November 19, 2004. The accused used to supply the pirated CD’s to the markets in Karol Bagh and notorious Palika Bazaar. A case vide FIR No. 623 of 2004 is registered in Police Station Karol Bagh.
November 21, 2004 New Delhi: with the assistance of MPA investigators, the District Investigation Unit (DIU) North- West District, Delhi Police conducted a suo-motu raid and seizure operation on video parlor operating in Sector 17, Dwarka, Delhi. At the time of the raid, one Dhananjay and Harish were caught red handed and arrested for making illegal and unauthorized exhibition of the film Spiderman –2. The entire equipment used for exhibition was seized, which included 1 VCD Player, 29” Colour Television, Screen etc. latest Hollywood and Bollywood films were also seized. It is informed that the accused used to charge a small amount of Rs. 10 per person and had a big hall that could seat 100-120 people and was running 3 shows in a day. The films included latest English and Hindi films and the accused also used to run a late night show of a pornographic film. At the time of the Raid there were 107 persons who were watching the show.
NOVEMBER
30, 2004
: ANTI
PIRACY TRAILER LAUNCHED ON
November 30, 2004 Mumbai: on the Complaint of MPA investigators the Police of MRA marg Police Station conducted a raid and seizure operation VCD/DVD distributor. One Munaz @ Munna Siraj Ahmed was caught red handed making available for sale pirated copies of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films. The Seizure included 2078 VCD’s and 423 DVD’s. The accused was remanded to Judicial custody by the area magistrate.
A Case vide FIR No. 3237 / 2004 has been registered in Police Station MRA Marg, Mumbai. Further information is awaited.
November 30, 2004 New Delhi: on the information of MPA investigators, The Intellectual Property Cell of the Crime Branch Delhi Police conducted a suo-motu raid and seizure operation on a CD-R burning unit operating in the posh south Delhi locality of Lajpat Nagar Delhi.
A simultaneous raid was conducted at three premises of one Kapil Verma who was caught red handed making the pirated copies of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films, MP3’s and duplicating pornographic films in huge quantities using a set of 17 CD-R Burners. Neeraj and Rajesh, accomplices of Kapil Verma were also arrested. The seizure included 9058 CD-R’s of English, Hindi and pornographic films.
During interrogation by Police Kapil told the Police that he had links with the pirated CD manufacturers in Mumbai and Ahmedbad, Gujarat. from where he used to procure the master copies of the CD’s and he would then duplicate these films using large no. of CD-Writers.
This is not the first MPA action against Kapil. his unit has been raided previously also. MPA will be keeping the strict vigil on the future activities of this person.
A Case vide FIR No. 970 / 2004 has been registered in Police Station – Lajpat Nagar New Delhi. Further information is awaited.
A Case vide FIR No. 1027 / 2004 has been registered in Police Station – Uttam Nagar, Delhi. Further information is awaited.
November 30, 2004 – Goa, India: Motion Picture Association of America (MPA) launched a new anti-piracy movie trailer at the 35th INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL OF INDIA - 2004, GOA. The Hon’ble Minister for Information and Broadcasting, Government of India Mr. S. Jaipal Reddy inaugurated the launch at INOX Theater - 1 at 11.30 AM. This launch marks the onset of a series of public awareness campaigns to be initiated by MPA
The 45-seconds trailer, launched in the United States in March and scheduled for rollout in more than 40 countries worldwide, is aimed at increasing public awareness about copyright law, encouraging the public to reject pirated movies found online or on DVDs, and delivering a simple message – Movie Piracy. It’s A Crime.
The education effort represented by the trailer campaign complements ongoing government anti-piracy enforcement efforts, which resulted in a decline in India’s piracy rate from 60 percent to 55 percent last year, and in significant seizures of CD-Rs, VCDs and DVDs. This year through October pirate optical disc seizures totaled 2, 24,690 discs and more than 170 CD-R burners.
Copyright theft cost MPA member companies an estimated US$718 million in lost revenues in 2003 in the Asia-Pacific region alone, with worldwide losses exceeding $3 billion.
Local economies also lose out as a result of piracy. On an average two-thirds of the licensed sales revenue generated by overseas sales of MPA member company titles stays in the individual countries, with one-third going to the governments and one-third to local businesses.
MPA’s Report Piracy Earn Reward Schemes initiated in India by MPA has generated a great response, wherein the members of the general public have been rewarded for providing credible information regarding piracy. More than Rs. 1, 50, 000/- has been paid out as reward money in exchange for information about pirate activities.
Michael C. Ellis, Senior Vice President and Regional Director for the MPA, said, “India is fast-emerging as a key market and the Indian Enforcement Agencies have done some wonderful job in combating piracy by conducting suo motu (ex-officio) raid and seizure operations on information from MPA investigators. Indian Police is spearheading the anti-piracy fight, tracking down illegal duplication units and distribution centers. However, the public has an important role to play as well, stepping up to recognize and reject criminal behavior.
“If movie pirates cannot find buyers for their goods, movie piracy will die. Movie piracy hurts not only the companies that produce entertainment, but also the local companies through which that entertainment reaches the movie fans. Local jobs are lost and local economy is affected when the government is unable to collect taxes. The trailer released today conveys a simple message – piracy is a crime.”
Chander Lall, All India Legal Counsel for the MPA, said, “Enforcing copyright laws not only protects movies, music, computer software and other intellectual property but also stimulates and encourages more creativity. If the people of India do not respect intellectual property and encourage piracy by purchasing pirated copies of movies or downloading through Internet, investment in the creative industries will be lost.
“Furthermore, foreign investors and distributors might decline to market new products in India. This would affect not only India’s international reputation, but also its economic and social development.”
The MPA played a significant role in reducing the piracy rate last year by introducing the successful Anti-Piracy Reward Scheme. Since its launch in 2003, seven cases originating with information provided through the program resulted in the seizure of 171 CD-R burners.
December 07, 2004 New Delhi: On the information of MPA Investigators a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations were conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, on a CD-R Burner (writer) unit and a retail outlet resulting in seizure of 2 CD-R Burners (writers) and 3582 CDR’s.
Raid conducted on Tuesday on one Raju s/o of Sohanlal resident of A-99, Nav Jeevan Camp, Govind Puri, Kalkaji, New Delhi resulted in Seizure of 1X1 CD-R Burner (writer) 2780 CD-R’s of latest films, 115 MP3 CD’s and the raid conducted on one retail outlet of Omprakash s/o Jai Govind Shah resident of C-225, Nav Jeevan Camp, Govind Puri, Kalkaji, New Delhi resulted in seizure of 687CD-R’s of latest films. Both the accused were arrested and a case vide FIR No. 1123 of 2004 is registered in Police Station Kalkaji, New Delhi.
Accused were produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate Mr. Digvijay Singh. The accused were then remanded to Judicial Custody for 14 days. Further information is awaited.
Significantly this is one of the first raid and seizure operation after the announcement and initiation of the “Operation Eradicate”
December 10, 2004 New Delhi: Delhi Police Cracks Down on CD-R Burning units - 31 CD-R Burners Seized: On the information of MPA Investigators a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations were conducted by the Crime Branch of Delhi Police, on two CD-R Burner (writer) units resulting in seizure of 31 CD-R Burners (writers).
December 11, 2004 Mumbai: On the complaint of the MPA investigators police of Versova Police station, Mumbai. conducted raid and seizure operation on a Video Library By the name of SAI BABA video library located in Ratan Nagar Corner, Four Bungalows, Andheri (W) Mumbai. The OWNER of the Library, one Vikas Ashok Tubey was arrested was arrested from the spot for making available for sale and or rental the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD format to the members of general public. Raid resulted in a seizure of 250 CDs. Out of these 115 were MPA titles.
December 13, 2004 Mumbai: on the complaint of the MPA investigators, a police team of M.H.B Colony Police Station, Borivali, Mumbai. conducted raid and seizure operation on Shop No.8, IC.LIC Junction located at Chancellor Court, Borivali, Mumbai The OWNER of the shop, one Dilip Nandlal Mishra was arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD and DVD format to the members of general public. Raid resulted in a seizure of 370 pirated VCD’s and 78 pirated DVD's . Out of these 423 were MPA titles.
A case vide F.I.R No 3035 of 2004 has been registered at the M.H.B Colony Police Station, Borivali, Mumbai.
A case vide FIR No. 528/2004 is registered in Police Station Shadara.
Both the accused were produced before the magistrate and were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days. Upon inquiry by Police it was revealed that the accused used to supply the pirate DVD’s in the affluent like Palika Bazaar and Lajpatrai markets of Delhi.
December 14, 2004 New Delhi: on the information of MPA investigators the Local Police of Police Station Connaught Place New Delhi conducted a suo motu raid and seizure operation on shop no. M-8 Palika Bazaar arresting the owner Mr. Shushil Nagpal recovering a cache of latest DVD’s. A case vide FIR No. 771/2004 has been registered in Police Station Connaught Place.
December 15, 2004 Kolkata: On the information of MPA Investigator, a suo motu raid and seizure operation was conducted by the Press Section under Deputy Commissioner of Police, Detective Division I (DCP-DD-I) resulting in seizure of more than 5000 DVDs, 16000 VCDs and 2000 MP3s.
In a suo motu raid conducted on directions of Mr. Piyush Pandey, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Detective Department I and under direct supervision of Mr. Bimal Kumar Saha, Officer-In-charge, Press Section of Kolkata Police, one Dipankar Bhowmick was caught red-handed making available for sale the pirated copies of films in VCD and DVD format and music CDs in MP3 format in a shop operating under the name and style of M/s. Reflection at 87, Pukur Road, Lake Pears, Kolkata – 29 resulting in seizure of 5115 DVDs, 16230 VCDs of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films and 2055 MP3s of latest English and Hindi songs. Upon taking search of the complete premises, it was detected that the accused also used to make illegal copies of the film using a computer, 2 CDR Burner (Writer) and a VCR. Upon inquiry, it was revealed that Mr. Bhowmick used to work in association with one Mr. Deepak Tatia, who is also the owner of the premises and is a named absconder in the FIR. The value of the goods seized by the Police has been estimated at Rs. 85,67,500/-.
A case vide FIR No.341/2004 has been registered in Lake Police Station, Kolkata under Sections 63, 65 and 68A of Copyright Act read with Section 120B IPC. A further investigation in the case is on.
It is also informed that the accused used to supply the pirated stocks to the Chandani Bazaar, which is known for its notorious pirate activities. Press Section of Kolkata Police under DCDD-I is contemplating more such action.
This raid and seizure operation is a big jolt to the pirate activities being carried out discretely in the city of Kolkata.
ANTI-PIRACY MOVIE TRAILER LAUNCHED TO RAISE PUBLIC AWARENESS Public Awareness Campaign to Complement Enforcement Efforts
December 21, 2004 Mumbai (1st Raid): In the first ever Suo Moto action, on the information of MPA investigators, the Social Service Branch, Mumbai conducted raid and seizure operation on a retailer of pirated products located at: D.N.Road, Opp. Mahindra Chambers Footpath, Fort, Mumbai. The two owners of the above mentioned stall, Rahul Method Rauf and Harish Abdul Qadar were arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD / DVD format to the members of general public. The Raid resulted in a seizure of 151 CDs and 205 DVDs of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films. A Total of 680 MPA titles were seized.
A case vide F.I.R No 2547 of 2004 has been registered at the Social Service Branch Police Station, Mumbai
December 21, 2004 Mumbai (2nd Raid) : In the second Suo Moto action in the series, On the information by MPA investigators, the Social Service Branch of Mumbai Police conducted raid and seizure operation on a retailer of pirated products located at :D.N.Road Footpath, Fort, Mumbai. The two owners of the above mentioned stall, Mohammed Salim Mohammed Karim and Arun Ashok Vishwas were arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD / DVD format to the members of general public. The Raid resulted in a seizure of 727 CDs of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films.
A case vide F.I.R No 3486 of 2004 has been registered at the Social Service Branch Police Station, Mumbai
MPA Counsel in Mumbai, Mr. Amit Thukral has been aggressively pursuing the suo-motu model with the Mumbai police lately.
December 22, 2004 Mumbai: On the complaint of the MPA investigators police of M.R.A Marg Police Station, Mumbai. conducted raid and seizure operation on a retailer of pirated products by the name of Raj C.D. Collection, Shop No. 111, Kamini building, M.G. road, Kala Ghoda, Mumbai-1. Two people working and managing the operations of the said shop, Shrafat Ali and Amit Kumar were arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD / DVD format to the members of general public. Raid resulted in a seizure of 111 CDs and 43 DVDs of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films.
A case vide F.I.R No 419 of 2004 has been registered at the M.R.A Marg Police Station, Mumbai
December 24, 2004 Mumbai: On the complaint of MPA investigators, police of Colaba Police Station, Mumbai. conducted raid and seizure operation on a retailer of pirated products located at Shahid Bhagat Singh Road, Opp. Citywalk Shoes Foothpath, Colaba, Mumbai-1. One person working and managing the operations of the said shop, Shamsher Yusuf Valarana Kandy was arrested from the spot for making available for sale the pirated copies of the latest films in VCD / DVD format to the members of general public. The Raid resulted in a seizure of 330 CDs and 213 DVDs of latest Hollywood and Bollywood films. A Total of 846 MPA titles were seized.
A case vide F.I.R No 281 of 2004 has been registered at the Colaba Police Station, Mumbai.
December 24, 2004 New Delhi: Production Unit - 21 DVD-R Burners (writers), 4 CD-R Burners (writers) and a printing press manufacturing fake inlay cards and cover boxes Seized: on the information of MPA investigators, Crime Branch of Delhi Police conducted a series of suo-motu raid and seizure operations.
In a suo-motu raid conducted in a residential colony of east Delhi one Vikki Malhotra resident of D-39, Gali No. 7, New Gobindpura, Chander Nagar, Shahdra, Delhi 110051 and one Vikas Sharma resident of P-28, Gali No. 7, Bihari Colony, Shahdra, Delhi 110051 were caught red handed making pirate copies of the latest Hollywood and Bollywood films using DVD-R Burners. A unit of 21 DVD-R Burners were busted by the MPA Sleuths after intensive investigation and surveillance. This is first time in India that such a unit has been found but keeping in mind the rapid advancement in technology more such units are likely to be targets in future.
The raid resulted in a seizure of 2182 DVD-R’s and 961 CD-R’s besides 1 computer monitor, 2 printers, 1 scanner, 1 UPS, 1+1 power supply.
In an another raid in the series on one CD-R Burning unit and a printing press making fake inlay cards and cover boxes, one Ashwini Dhingra resident of C-14, Gali No. 13, Gobindpura, Near Chand Nagar, Shahdra, Delhi 110051. 4 CD-R Burner, 240 CD-R’s of latest films, besides one 1 paper cutter, 1 dye cutter, 95 negatives, 950 inlay cards, 750 cover boxes, 14860 packaging material 24650 stickers, complete press was sealed.
A case vide FIR No. 441 of 2004 has been registered in Police Station Farsh bazaar, Delhi
All three persons arrested were remanded to judicial custody for 14 days.
Please see the attached slide giving out the estimated losses in Rupees as well as in USD, if the unit of such kind are allowed to function for a year. (Please double click on the chart).
I am extremely happy to report that Mumbai police has conducted the first ever suo moto Anti - Piracy Raid and seizure operation. This milestone was made possible only after extensive efforts were made at imparting training by MPA counsel to the Mumbai Police's Social Service Branch. The training given to the SS Branch was concentrating only on how the police was empowered to conduct search and seizure operation on their own ( Suo Moto ) under the Copyright Act. After months of diligent efforts by MPA counsel, the Mumbai police finally relented and agreed to conduct the first in a series of suo moto raids. On the 21st of December the Social Service Branch of Mumbai Police conducted two suo- moto raids, the details of which are given hereunder:
January 07, 2005 New Delhi: On the information of MPA investigators, Crime Branch of Delhi Police conducted a suo motu raid and seizure operation in the notorious Lajpat Rai Market, New Delhi, hitting at two shops 1. shop opposite shop no. 881 Lajpat Rai Market, 2. shop no. 472 Lajpat Rai Market, Delhi arresting 2 persons namely Ravi Shanker Goyal and Mr. Sabir. The raid resulted in a seizure of 860 VCD’s and 95 DVD’s of Latest films.
A case vide FIR No. 09/2005 has been registered in Police Station Kotwali New Delhi. Further information is awaited.
I am pleased to report yet another raid in Mumbai under 'Operation Eradicate'
January 10, 2005 Bangalore: On the information of MPA investigators, Bangalore Police conducted suo-motu raid and seizure operation on a retail outlet named M/s Prince Videos, 13th Cross, 8th Main, Malleshwaram, Bangalore resulting in seizure of over 460 pirated DVD’s and 1538 pirated VCD’s of various Hollywood and Bollywood and regional language films. One person was arrested. A case has been registered in Police Station Malleshwaram, Bangalore
Further Information is awaited in the matter.
MPA Enters into Strategic Alliance with local Kerala Film Producers
Ernakulam, January 10, 2005: I am pleased to report that MPA has entered into a strategic alliance with the Kerala Film Producers Association. An agreement has been signed authorising Lall & Sethi to run the ant piracy operation on its behalf in the state of Kerala. Mr. Sajan Verghese the convener of the Antivideo piracy cell, an organ of the Kerala Film Producers’ Association signed the agreement on behalf of the association. By virtue of this agreement, the Kerala producers will share half the costs of the anti piracy operations in the State.
The Kerala Film Producers’ Association, has also commissioned issuance of notices in two local dailies cautioning all the retail/rental outlets of serious action and demanding that they stop dealing in piracy.
Ernakulam,
January 10, 2005: I
am also please to report that we have hired a retired Suptd. Of Police in Kerala
to head upon the anti piracy operations in Kerala. The person is Mr. K.
Janarajan, Retd. SP, Crime Branch, Kerala Police. Mr. Janarajan will take on
the assignment w.e.f. January 15, 2005. We have confirmed 4 investigators who
will assist Mr. Janarajan. Rajesh Ramanathan will provide the necessary legal
assistance from Bangalore with supervisions done by Pankaj Monga in Delhi.
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To provide information on
film piracy of Hollywood films & Hindi Films from Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkatta, Chennai & Bangalore to report
film piracy by Cable Operators, Retailers, Video Libraries etc. Your Complaints shall be registered. Investigations based on your complaints shall be conducted immediately. |
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PIRACY NEWS |
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MOTION PICTURE ASSOCIATION |
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DVD / CDR Rewards Program |
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If you have information which can lead to a successful raid on a pirate DVD / CDR plant you could get a heavy cash reward.
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