Posts tagged asif

Cops probe Dawood link in piracy racket

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3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in
Crime Branch teams leave for Delhi and Ghaziabad in search of Jitender Kumar, a major player; two top officials of Shemaroo and Reliance Big Cinemas arrested By Abhijit Sathe (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 25, 2009)

Director and producer of What’s your Raashee? Ashutosh Gowariker

The Bollywood piracy plot is getting more sinister. After arresting employees of major post-production and distribution firms for spiriting out DVDs of new films, Mumbai Police is now on the hunt for a major player in the racket named Jitender Kumar, who is suspected to have links with the Dawood gang.

Crime Branch sources said teams have been despatched to Delhi and Ghaziabad to arrest Kumar, a ‘bigshot from Ghaziabad’ who apparently runs a major pirated material distribution racket in north India. Officials said he also has connections with the two piracy groups now in police custody. The latest arrests are those of Kalapi Nagda, 29, head of overseas distribution of Shemaroo Pictures and Neerav Shah, 30, manager of overseas distribution of Reliance Big Cinema, on the basis of information provided by UFO Moviez associate vice-president Rajesh Chaudhary, who was arrested on Tuesday.

“Afsar Hyder Hussain alias Ashraf, who was picked up on Tuesday, is the link between Kumar and the groups in Mumbai. Though Afsar deals with Kumar to sell and distribute pirated movies, last year, Kumar tipped off the police that Afsar was carrying pirated material and got him arrested at Mumbai airport,” More >

What's Your Raashee piracy racket busted; insiders involved

0
3 years ago
by Fenil Seta in

By Deeptiman Tiwary and Abhijit Sathe (MUMBAI MIRROR; September 23, 2009)

Rakesh Maria

Some of the top distributors in Bollywood may be aiding and abetting film piracy. This fact came to light after Mumbai Crime Branch busted a major racket involving employees of two major post-production companies and some pirates who have in the past six months pirated 11 films even before they were released.

The pirates have revealed the names of some distributors who gave them information on ready-to-be-released films and even helped procure copies of masterprints.

The latest masterprint that fell into their hands was of Ashutosh Gowariker’s What’s Your Rashee?, slated to be released on Friday.

The Crime Branch has arrested six people, including a business development manager from Adlabs Films and an associate vice president from UFO Moviez, in connection with the case. It has also found that the entire racket is being run from Karachi in Pakistan.

A Crime Branch officer said, “The accused have revealed the names of some distributors who were helping them with information on where the films were being processed  and who were the people who could be contacted for a masterprint. They also facilitated these liaisons.”

Crime Branch chief Rakesh Maria said, “There are some people from inside the industry, but we are still verifying their exact role and involvement. It would be premature to reveal their names as of now.”

HOW THE CASE WAS CRACKED

What’s your More >

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