KOCHI: After a painstaking surveillance operation, the cyber police have apprehended a Tamil Nadu resident for leaking the pirated copy of Prithviraj’s latest film, Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, just one day after its release.
The accused, Jeb Sebastian, was caught in the act while attempting to capture another film, Rayaan, at Aries Theatre in Thiruvananthapuram.
The two-month probe revealed that Jeb was part of a team that used a video camera to record the film from the screen on May 16. The pirated copy was then uploaded on Telegram, Torrent, and WhatsApp, causing a stir in the film industry.
Earlier, Supriya Menon of Prithviraj Productions, the producer of the film, filed a complaint with the cyber police station alleging piracy and seeking swift action against the perpetrators. The production house also approached the content provider, Qube, for further leads on piracy.
“The pirated copy of the film was released the very next day of the release and it was available on Torrent, Telegram, and even on WhatsApp. We filed a complaint with the cyber police and approached Qube to examine the copy. We were behind this for around two months. A movie is a commercial and creative product. We cannot entertain such practices,” Vipin Kumar, the spokesperson for Prithviraj Productions, told TNIE.
It was in the forensic watermarking (FWM) analysis of the pirate copy that it was found that the movie was captured during a show on May 16 at Aries Plex in Vanchiyoor, Thiruvananthapuram.
“Based on all the data gathered from the pirated files of the film Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil, the FWM invisibly embedded within the picture by the server indicated that the pirate copy was made using a video camera from the screen and not directly from the digital cinema projection equipment installed at the theatre,” stated Qube in the forensic watermarking analysis report.
The accused were under surveillance for the past two months by the police as well as the crew of Guruvayuoor Ambalanadayil. “Following the response from Qube, we contacted the officials at Aries Theatre, checked the CCTV footage, and collected ticketing data. Their mode of operation is the same. We could find them as they booked tickets for the film Rayaan in similar way,” added Vipin.
Police sources said that Jeb was taken into custody from the Aries Theatre on July 27 by the Thiruvananthapuram City Police while he was watching and capturing Rayaan. “It is found that the same team had booked tickets for other films including the recent releases Kalki and Maharaja. We traced the mobile numbers used for booking tickets and found they have booked tickets for Rayaan too. The Thiruvananthapuram City Police took him into custody on Saturday when they were capturing the film while screening. We produced him before the magistrate and he was remanded for 14 days,” said Jayakumar, the station house officer with the Cyber Police station, Kochi.