Movie Piracy: Five Arrested, Who Are They?

Movie piracy has been a major problem for the film industry. Films in Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam, and Hindi are often leaked online shortly after release. This causes huge financial losses to producers and distributors. Authorities have been trying to catch piracy gangs for years, but many operate across countries, making it difficult to track them.

Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police recently arrested five people involved in a large movie piracy racket. The gang is accused of leaking films such as HIT 3, Single, Kubera, Hari Hara Veera Mallu and Game Changer on sites like 1TamilBlasters, Movierulz and 1Tamil. Police estimate that piracy has cost the film industry around ₹3,700 crore.

The arrested individuals include:

Ashwani Kumar (Bihar): Hacked studio servers to steal HD copies of films before release and sold them for $800 per movie. He had 22 CCTV cameras around his home.

Cyril Raj (Tamil Nadu): Mastermind behind 1TamilBlasters. He ran servers abroad and uploaded over 500 movies since 2020, earning more than ₹2 crore in cryptocurrency. He also earned ₹9 lakh in a month from a betting app.

Jana Kiran (Hyderabad): Secretly recorded over 100 Telugu films in theaters using an iPhone. He sold each copy for $300–400.

Sudhakaran (Tamil Nadu): Recorded 35 Tamil and Telugu films and uploaded them via Telegram.

Arsalan Ahmed (Goa/Bihar): Managed file uploads, crypto wallets, and Telegram channels.

The gang used two main methods: hacking digital servers and cam-cording movies in theaters. The pirated files were shared on Telegram groups, torrent sites, and illegal websites. All payments were made in cryptocurrency like Bitcoin and Tether, avoiding banks. Some piracy sites were sponsored by online betting and gaming apps.

Hyderabad Police said these arrests are an important step against organized movie piracy. CP CV Anand will soon brief producers and actors about the gang’s methods. Authorities hope this will protect the film industry’s revenue and prevent future leaks.