Mumbai: A Facebook user and two WhatsApp users were booked on Monday after the cyber police found their involvement in leaking the pirated version of Salman Khan’s Radhe: Your Most Wanted Bhai. The suspects had offered video files of the film for Rs. 50. Police filed an FIR after they received a complaint from Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd (ZEE).

-------------------

Mumbai: The cyber police station have registered a first information report (FIR) against a Facebook user for allegedly illegal downloading Salman Khan-starrer ‘Radhe — Your Most Wanted Bhai’ from Zee Entertainment Enterprises (ZEE) Limited’s app and then selling the pirated version of the film on WhatsApp for Rs. 50.

The FIR was registered at the central region cyber police station, Worli, on Monday by Sucheta Burman, 50, ZEE’s chief legal consultant.

Owing to the pandemic, the movie was released on ZEE’s OTT (over-the-top) platform and a few theatres which are permitted by the local authorities to remain open.

ZEE bought the broadcast rights of the film on February 26 from production company Salman Khan Ventures Limited. To prevent the piracy of the film, the company signed an agreement with five anti-piracy agencies. It also secured the John Doe order – to take action against unidentified offender/s – from Madras high court on May 12 to prevent the violation of intellectual property rights of the movie by means of piracy.

According to the police, the film was released in Dubai on May 12 and aired in India the next day on Zee5 app. On the evening of May 13, Aparna Desai, the marketing head of the Khan’s company, informed ZEE that the film is being illegally released on WhatsApp in five parts.

ZEE contacted anti-piracy agency Alplex Software Pvt Ltd, which informed them that two mobile numbers are being used to send the pirated version of the movie on WhatsApp. The agency also sent a notice to WhatsApp requesting them to pull down the pirated videos of the film from the messaging platform, the FIR stated.

Next day, the complainant company discovered that a Facebook user, Ashwani Raghav, has uploaded an advertisement with the film’s poster on his Facebook account. The advertisement stated that those interested can take the movie from him for ₹50 through WhatsApp, the police said.

To verify this, an executive from ZEE’s distribution team contacted Raghav on the given number and expressed his desire to get the movie. Raghav asked him to transfer Rs. 50 on PayTM. After sending the money, the executive soon received the pirated version of the film in five parts from Raghav’s WhatsApp number, stated the FIR.

ZEE then contacted a France-based forensic lab for help. The lab informed the company that the film was downloaded from Zee5 using a software. Following this, ZEE lodged the police complaint on Monday.

“A case under the relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and Copyright Act has been registered against Raghav and the users of two mobile numbers. Details on suspects are being gathered,” said an officer from the central region cyber police station.

ZEE in a statement stated, “People engaged in spreading the illegal version of the film are not just embracing piracy, but are also negatively impacting the growth of the industry and the livelihoods of the people working for it round the clock.”