One Jana Kiran Kumar was arrested earlier this week in Hyderabad while recording a film inside a cinema. The air-conditioner repair guy had over time built a profitable side business of secretly recording new films and leaking them. This racket is said to have earned him Rs. 40 lakh in crypto currency over the past 18 months.
The arrest was made following a joint operation by the Telangana Film Chamber of Commerce’s anti-piracy cell and cyber crime cops.
During interrogation, Kiran confessed to recording and leaking at least 40 films from different cinemas across Hyderabad. He told the police that he chose cinemas and shows with low occupancy because that ensured more chance of his actions going unnoticed. Kiran used his iPhone meticulously tucked into his shirt pocket. On May 9, he recorded Telugu film #Single at a cinema, soon after its release. He compressed the video to a 5GB file and shared it with piracy site operators.
Once the raw footage reached piracy website handlers, it was edited professionally — cropped to eliminate camera movement and obstructions, colour-corrected, and some scenes were trimmed.
Kiran’s crypto currency payments, allegedly by overseas handlers, are being probed.