'Baahubali 2' pirated at Bihar theatres

Hyderabad, May 17: A theater in Begusarai district of Bihar has utilized a high-definition copy of "Bahubali 2: The Thinking", and was used by a piracy gang to damage money from blockbuster producers. The police have busted the Delhi-based inter-state movie piracy gang with the arrest of six persons, including Divakar Kumar, owner of Veena Cinema Hall at Tivhra in Begusarai. Others who have been arrested are Rahul Mehta, Jitender Kumar Mehta, Taufiq, Md Ali, all from Delhi and Chandan from Bihar. Another accused from Bihar, Monu, is missing and on the run.

The accused will be presented before a court here on Wednesday. Interestingly, Jitender and Toufiq were also arrested in 2015 for making a pirated copy of "Baahubali: The Beginning", the first movie in the successful franchise. While Rahul Mehta, who was in Hyderabad to extort money from the "Baahubali" production banner Arka Mediaworks Entertainment Ltd, was arrested, others were nabbed in Delhi and Bihar and brought to Hyderabad on transit warrant.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central Crime Station) Avinash Mohanty, Arka representative Prasad Devineni had lodged a complaint on April 29 that they received a call from someone posing as film anti-piracy activist, demanding Rs 15 lakh. The caller told the firm that he has a pirated copy and warned that if the money was not paid, he would upload it on internet.

However, instead of arresting the caller by tracking his phone, the police decided to go for a thorough probe to reach the roots of the piracy racket. On their advise, the production firm engaged the caller in a dialogue and sought proof of the pirated copy. He sent a sample video and it turned out to be high-definition copy of the movie. The police, with the help of experts, found that the film was copied from a theatre in Begusarai, breaching satellite technology security.

While Arka representatives continued dialogue with Rahul Mehta by inviting him to Hyderabad, the police continued their probe and arrested the theatre owner. However, one of the satellite broadcasters in the film that copied this film escaped a former employee. Rahul was arrested in Hyderabad and arrested by police on the basis of his information with other gang members in Delhi.