The accused
Those arrested were identified as Ashwani Kumar (21) and Arsalan Ahmed (23) from Bihar, Cyril Infant Raj (32) and Sudhakaran (31) from Tamil Nadu, and Jana Kiran Kumar (29) from Hyderabad.
Ashwani Kumar is accused of hacking digital media company servers and selling unreleased HD versions at USD 800 each. Investigators say he leaked 120 films, including HIT: The Third Case about 18 hours before its release.
Cyril Raj, identified as the mastermind behind 1TamilBlasters, allegedly managed multiple overseas servers and uploaded nearly 500 films since 2020. A computer science graduate, he reportedly earned about Rs 2 crore in cryptocurrency, averaging Rs 9 lakh per month, and also hacked government and e-commerce websites.
Jana Kiran Kumar used an iPhone hidden in his shirt pocket to record nearly 100 films in Hyderabad theatres, including Cinepolis, Attapur, receiving USD 300–400 in Bitcoin for each.
Sudhakaran recorded Naai Sekar in Coimbatore. He pirated about 35 South Indian films across languages, the city police chief stated.
Arsalan Ahmed uploaded pirated content to file-sharing sites and shared links on Telegram, earning about USD 135 per film.