Jan 22, 2011 10:12 AM
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Source: Times of India'Anti-piracy' men in extortion racket S Ahmed Ali, TNN, Dec 24, 2006, 11.56pm IST MUMBAI: An extortion racket, which could involve men in uniform and "copyright activists", has come to light in Ghatkopar. Two members of the Abtak Copyright Protection(ACP) have been arrested although three others have fled.
Mumbai police commissioner A N Roy said one of those arrested was a partner in the organisation whose members identified them as being from "ACP". But he avoided a direct answer to a question on the involvement of policemen.
"Further investigations are on and, if anything like that comes to light, we will not hesitate to take action against our men, " he said. The two arrested were identified as Anthony Michael and Rajesh Mishra and the absconders were said to be Shailendra Chandra, Anwar Hussain Mallik and Salian Nadar.
The racket came to light after one "copyright activist" went to the office of Samsung Electronic Private Limited to conduct a "search" along with "policemen" on Friday.
Samsung senior manager M C Chakravarthy claimed five members of ACP, "along with one sub-inspector and one constable", arrived at the office and informed him that they had a tip-off. They then started searching data on the computer. "Some of my employees had downloaded a few songs from new Hindi films like Fanaa, No Entry and Gangster on to a computer.
They told me that they would seal this office and arrest me under the Copyright Act and demanded Rs 2.5 lakh for letting me go. I got scared and immediately intimated to my head office in Delhi, " he said.
The "policemen" and the ACP representatives then started reducing the bribe amount. They reduced it to Rs 1.2 lakh when a senior company official from Delhi spoke to police commissioner Roy.
There are allegations that the same set of copyright activists have extorted huge sums from courier firms, share-brokers and businessmen.
A reputed share-broker(name withheld), having an office in Pant Nagar, said ACP extorted a sum of Rs 50, 000 from him.
One victim, who spoke to TOI, asked: "Do policemen and copyright activists have the right to take action on consumers using pirated goods? Why don't they target those who are indulging in piracy and selling pirated goods?"
Ghatkopar police station senior inpsector S Padwal denied that his officers were involved in any way. "We did not know of this extortion by copyright activists but we will keep a stricter watch now, "he added.
Tags: Abtak copyright protection javed ansari anthony music piracy music copyright indian fonts copyright.
