MUMBAI: Mumbai Police, along with SS Branch and AA Khan & Associates, raided two locations in Mumbai and seized over 4,500 pirated DVDs and CDs of recently released movies worth Rs 265,000.
In the first raid, conducted at Andheri West railway station, a western suburb in Mumbai, the team seized around 2000 pirated CDs and DVDs. The catch included Ram Gopal Varma’s Rann (released last week), Vidhu Vinod Chopra’s 3 Idiots, Vishal Bharadwaj’s Ishqiya and and Salman Khan starrer Veer. The pirated DVDs also consisted of yet-to-be released English movie Law Abiding Citizen and Marathi movies Jhenda and Natrang. The total amount of confiscated goods was around Rs 127,000.
The next raid carried out near Matunga West railway station uncovered 2,730 pirated CDs and DVDs worth Rs 142,000.
Says former IPS officer and Ex ATS chief AA Khan, “Piracy is a serious offence and one which is rampant within major parts of the city. We along with Mumbai Police are dedicated to the cause of arresting the increase of such activities. However, the job of the police is nullified since the common man goes and purchases movies from such pirates. People need to remember that besides denying the creators of the content their fair share, the proceeds from such sales fund several illegal activities including terrorism in India and abroad.”
Four people have been arrested during the raids - Salimuddin Khan, Raju Prakash Teli, Dinesh Amrutlal Gupta and Santosh Kumar Sahu. The accused were booked under sections 51, 52(A), 63, 68(A) of the Copyright Act of 1957.
