Viacom18 pursues criminal action against cartels of pirates

Viacom18 Media Pvt. Ltd. is working closely with the Maharashtra Cyber Crime Cell, Mumbai to fight against digital piracy and infringing usage of content.

The Cyber Crime Cell has arrested Subhanjan Kayet for his involvement in the pirated websites/platform named Thop TV. He was accused for the development of software, technical manipulation, illegal streaming and telecasting the contents from Viacom18’s channels and its popular OTT platform, Voot, read a statement.

After being produced before the Esplanade court on 23 May, Kayet has been sent to five days police custody considering the severity of the offence and upon request of the counsel appearing for the state.

Also, the Maharashtra Cyber Crime Cell has frozen his bank account in which he has purportedly received the illegal proceeds of unlawful activities. He was apprehending his arrest for the last few months after his bail applications were rejected by the courts in Kolkata and Mumbai.

“Special anti-piracy unit MIPCU (Maharashtra Intellectual property Crime Unit) arrested accused Subhanjan Samiran Kayet from Gobardanaga Harbra, 24 Paragana, West Bengal on 22 May as he appears to be the lead developer of the THOP TV app. We have sufficient evidence regarding this,” said Superintendent of Police, Maharashtra Cyber, Mumbai, Sanjay Shintre.

Viacom18’s spokesperson said, “We are thankful to the Maharashtra Cyber for continuing this action against piracy. It is important to make the message clear that operating or abetting a business of infringement is a serious offence which affects the creative community at large. The perpetrators will be found and brought before law.”

Viacom18 have remained at the forefront in addressing and curbing piracy of their content and channels. Together with Maharashtra Cyber Crime Cell, the efforts had also led to arrest of the founder and CEO of Thop TV in the recent past. Viacom18 and the TV18 network will continue to fight market threats associated with piracy and will protect their channel’s content using all legal methods available. First Post