4 arrested for selling pirated CDs, DVDs

The Social Service branch of Mumbai police has tightened its grip on the sale of pirated CDs and DVDs across the city. Within a week, it has conducted three major raids and busted the manufacture and sale of more than 15,000 pirated discs including bootleg copies of new releases worth Rs 14 lakh.

The Social Service branch of Mumbai police has tightened its grip on the sale of pirated CDs and DVDs across the city.

HT Image

Within a week, it has conducted three major raids and busted the manufacture and sale of more than 15,000 pirated discs including bootleg copies of new releases worth Rs 14 lakh.

On Thursday, police seized bootleg copies worth more than Rs 3 lakh from a manufacturing unit located next to Indian Motion Pictures Producers Association office at Pali Naka in Bandra and Khar Danda.

Police said the raid, conducted with the help of anti-piracy squad, A.A. Khan and Associates, uncovered pirated discs of Paa, Radio, 2012, Tum Mile, De Dana Dan and Wanted among others.

Four persons have been arrested. The accused —Mohammed Khan (29), Rafique Arif Memon (22), Zeeshan Riyazul Khan (20) and Kashi Radha Vallabhdas (29) — have been booked under sections 51, 52 (A), 63, 68 (A) of Copyright Act along with sections 292A of the Indian Penal Code.

Khan, a former IPS officer, said: “The raids are just a small part of the piracy market, which accounts for several hundred crore rupees. The only way we can address the problem is if all parties involved are committed to the cause of eradicating this issue.”