IMPPA GRATEFUL TO POLICE FOR BUSTING COPYRIGHT VIOLATION SCAM

IMPPA was approached by its member Mr. Puneet Prakash Mehra son of legendary filmmaker late Mr. Prakash Mehra and informed that the block buster film ZANJEER produced by his father was illegally telecast and exploited by some channels without obtaining the rights or having any authority to screen the same as the channels had acquired the rights based on the basis of forged and bogus agreements prepared and signed with them by a copyright violation nexus which is exploiting the hit films produced by renowned makers who are no more and similarly his father’s films had also been shown on many networks proof of which he had collected and showed to IMPPA.

After verifying the genuineness of the complaint IMPPA guided and advised Mr. Puneet Prakash Mehra the course of action to be adopted including filing of police complaint which he duly followed and as due to lockdown the police actions was taking unduly long time IMPPA on behalf of its member wrote letters to Sr. Inspector, Juhu Police Station on 30th July 2020 as well as Deputy Commissioner of Police, Bandra Police Station on 31st July 2020 requesting them to take immediate action in the matter as it was serious matter of cheating and looting and exploiting illegally the property i.e. intellectual property rights and copyrights and it was a very serious matter as this illegal exploitation had become very wide spread,rampant and uncontrollable.

In this connection IMPPA is very proud to inform everyone including its members that due to persistent efforts of Puneet Mehra the case was referred to the Crime Investigation Unit of Mumbai Police who have acted in an exemplary manner in the matter and number of criminals have been arrested and put behind bars and they have started revealing this criminal nexus in which Mr. Sanjay Verma, CEO of Maha Movie TV Channel, Mr. Raju Khan, Mr. Ghanshyam Suraj Giri have been arrested. Mr. Narayan Sharma owner of Box Cinema who is also co-accused in the TRP scam along with Republic TV, Fakt Marathi, News Nation & Wow TV has obtained anticipatory bail and against whom Mr. Puneet Mehra had filed the original complaint against for illegibly telecasting the movie Zanzeer on Box Cinema in which connection CIU of Mumbai Police raided the office of the accused and Maha Movies on 12-1-2021 and seized the server and found that Maha Movies had also telecast the films Jadugar, Laawaris, Mohabbat Ke Dushman, Muquddar Ka Sikandar and Zanjeer without acquiring rights from the producer.After investigation Mr. Sanjay Verma was arrested by the police on 18-1-2021 and was produced in Court on 19-1-2021 and remanded to police custody till 25-1-2021.

We are very grateful to the Mumbai Police and particularly Joint. CP Law and Order Mr Vishwas Nangre Patil and Crime Investigation Unit headed by Ins Sachin Waze for their understanding the complexities of the crime and taking action against the culprits for which swift investigation and action the entire Film Industry will always be grateful to them.

Mr. Puneet Prakash Mehra has expressed his gratitude to IMPPA saying he could not have done what he has done without the active help and guidance of IMPPA and wants all IMPPA members to be informed that they do not have to tolerate blatant and open violation of their intellectual property and copyrights more particularly of those who are no more whose successors are genuinely affected and should come forward and claim their rights which are being exploited by fraudsters who are making millions while the creator and his family dont recieve anything.

It is indeed a turning point where overdue justice has been done and all Producers should learn to fight against such looting of their rights and all copyright violators should beware that their days of non accountability are over and as today every crime leaves its footprint they should wait for the law to catch up with their past crimes and should refrain from doing any such thing is future as they will not be able to get away with it