Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala): The cyber police have arrested the leader of the group, who filmed the movie from the theatres on the day of its release and released the pirated version through Telegram, officials said on Sunday.
Jaba Stephen Raj (33), a native of Tamil Nadu, was arrested on Saturday by officials of the Kakkanad Cyber Police from Aries Plex Theater here. On the complaint of producer Supriya Menon, the cyber police team came to Thiruvananthapuram and caught the leader of the gang who was copying the movie on a mobile phone and selling it through an online platform, police officials added.
According to police officials, the months-long investigation began with the release of the film 'Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil'. "The recorded version of the film, which was released on May 16, became available on Telegram that evening. Then the makers of the film including Supriya Menon lodged a complaint at Kakkanad cyber police station in Kochi," they added.
They added that the forensic examination of the fake version revealed that the movie was filmed on a mobile phone from the Aries Plex cinema theatre in Thiruvananthapuram.
"After that, the cyber police team reached Aries Plex Theater in Thiruvananthapuram and examined the CCTV footage inside it. During the inspection, the police got the footage of a person booking six seats together and filming a movie on a mobile phone. The film was filmed after turning on the camera of the phone and it was placed in the cup holder on the seat. Through the ticket booking mobile App, the police got the mobile number used by the accused in the crime. The police waited for him after knowing that the person had booked movie tickets using the same number on May 23, June 17, June 26 and July 5," officials added.
According to police officials, after the release of Dhanush-starrer Raayan on July 28, the accused booked tickets again using the same number. "Jaba Stephen Raj, who had come to watch the movie with his mobile phone as usual, was arrested from Aries Plex theatre by the cyber police team that came from Kochi with the help of Thiruvananthapuram cyber police. The cyber police team have also arrested two people from Chennai in this regard," they added.
Jaba Stephen Raj has admitted to the police that he sold the recorded version taken on his phone from the theatre at various prices through the Telegram channel.
"He also admitted that special Telegram channels were created to sell movies on the day of release. The person has to pay to be a member of these channels," police officials added.
