'Avatar’s' reincarnations flood Bangalore foothpaths

It is just one week since Avatar movie was released across theatres in the city and already thousands of pirated versions of the movie are available on the streets.

But sleuths of the Central Crime Branch (CCB’s fraud and misappropriation squad), acted fast and busted a gang selling pirated CDs and DVDs of movies like Avatar, and 2012 on Friday.

The raid was conducted on the footpath on Begur Road in Bommanahalli Cross near Hosur Road in Madiwala. Six accused namely Farooq, Yousuf, Rizwan, Parwez, Jaleel and Wahid were arrested on the spot. Another accused Khalil, however, managed to escape.

The police seized 6,226 pirated DVDs, MP3 CDs and pornography material valued at Rs6.50 lakh from their possession. The CDs and DVDs were of films in Hindi, English, Kannada, Tamil and Telugu.

Among them were pirated versions of Avatar, 2012, and Arya 2.  The accused were booked under Section 52 (a), 68 (a) of the Copyright Act, 1957 and Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code. They were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.
CCB police said more raids would be conducted at various places across the city, especially to seize pirated versions of Avatar.  Tulsiram Velu, director of Lahari recording company, said pirated versions of Avatar were available on the streets from the second day of its release.

“It is being duplicated across Karnataka in thousands and already over 50,000 pirated CDs and DVDs have been sold by these pirates. Every day, at least 5,000 copies are sold at Rs40 each,” Velu said.

“This is a big loss for exhibitors and distributors. The only way to control this is to conduct more raids across the city and arrest all those involved in this piracy business. Also the copyright act should be amended by imposing tougher punishment on the culprits.

Otherwise, they will get bail easily. The CCB raid on Friday is likely to create scare  in other pirates,’’ he said.