3 held for illegally extracting edu videos and selling them

Three students were arrested in Delhi for illegally selling extracted study materials from a popular YouTube channel, causing significant financial loss.

New Delhi Three students preparing for competitive exams have been arrested for illegally extracting study material from a popular educational Youtube channel and selling them on social media, the Delhi Police said on Tuesday.

According to the police, the trio purchased a bot and used it to illegally extract paid videos from the channel and sell it. (Representational image)

According to the police, the trio purchased a bot and used it to illegally extract paid videos from the channel and sell it.

The accused -- a graduate, aged 21; a polytechnic diploma holder, aged 23, and a B.Tech graduate, aged 28 -- were arrested on Monday, following a complaint from a coaching centre director having a popular Youtube channel with over 400,000 subscribers who pay for UPSC and other competitive exam videos, said officials.

Deputy commissioner of police (north) Raja Banthia said the complainant said he has over 2,400 videos which are all under his paid courses, and there are also free videos available.

“On March 10 last year, the complainant found that more than 2,400 of his educational videos had been unlawfully extracted, leaked, and uploaded on social media. The unauthorised distribution of these copyrighted educational videos has caused substantial financial and reputational loss to the complainant’s organization, affecting more than 25 employees and nearly 500,000 students,” the DCP said.

“The accused had purchased a bot, @RealExtractorGbot, and used it to extract videos and paid modules. They sold these to many students and earned more than ₹35 lakhs,” the DCP added.

During investigation, details of a suspected social media ID and other related channels involved were obtained and it was revealed that the accounts were linked to mobile numbers located in Ethiopia and Bangladesh, said the police.

Following further analysis of the technical records, an Indian number was found. Police said raids were conducted in Aligarh, Uttar Pradesh, one 21-year-old was apprehended on June 3. Based on his interrogation, his associate, aged 23, was held on June 8, and the other suspect, aged 28 was nabbed the next week.