Arrested: A youth involved in movie piracy racket arrested

Hyderabad. Hyderabad Cyber ​​Crime Police has arrested Jana Kiran Kumar, who works as an AC technician, on charges of movie piracy. The accused, originally from East Godavari, was found to be actively involved in a high-profile movie piracy racket. On June 5, 2025, a complaint was filed by Yara Manindra Babu, representing the Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce ( TFCC ) of Hyderabad.

Telugu film, “Single” was illegally pirated

He pointed out that the Telugu film, “Single” (released on May 9, 2025) was illegally pirated and circulated online on the day of the film release itself. Forensic watermarking pointed to a leak from a theatre. The TFCC has estimated the Telugu film industry to suffer a staggering loss of Rs 3,700 crore in 2024 due to piracy, and urged prompt investigation and action against the widespread piracy network.

Got money for recording newly released movies

The accused got a meme mentioning the piracy group and contacted their recruitment email (Proton Mail). He sent an offer through email offering the source of pirated Telugu content. He has taken all precaution to avoid being traced by the investigating agency by shifting to Telegram after sharing his Telegram ID. The assignment and payment agreement was to record newly released films, with an agreed payment of USD 300-400 (in cryptocurrency) per film.

The accused received payment in bitcoins

Some of the movies he leaked are Pellikanni Prasad, 14 Days Love, Thandel, Game On, Kismat, Rajdhani Files etc. He booked tickets online and used his mobile phone hidden in his shirt pocket to record movies in theatres and shared the links of the pirated movie files to the handler on Telegram. He received payment in bitcoins. Over a period of one and a half years, he recorded and leaked around 40 movies in various theatres in Hyderabad. In May 2025, he recorded and leaked a movie in a movie theatre in Hyderabad. Police seized two mobile phones.

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