The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has issued a lookout notice as per a request from the State Anti-Piracy Cell against Prem Kumar of Varkala, who is believed to be the brain behind the piracy racket that rocked the Malayalam film industry.
Prem Kumar, a UK citizen, has been carrying out his operations from there. The State Anti-Piracy Cell had requested the IB to issue the lookout notice two months ago after their efforts to bring him back to the country failed.
A warrant against him is pending for the last five months. “The lookout notices will be circulated among all airports and sea ports across the country so that we can apprehend him at the moment he step foot on the country,” Anti-Piracy Cell DySP S Rafeek said.
The police are hopeful that Prem Kumar, a permanent resident of the UK, would definitely visit Thiruvananthapuram as his close relatives are in Varkala.
His role in the piracy business was exposed after the Cell busted an inter-state piracy racket based in Bangalore. An investigation into the complaint lodged by the producers of the movie ‘Swapnasanchari’ had led the police to the gang, which made pirated copies of latest Malayalam movies with the help of the management of a theatre in Bangalore which screened Malayalam movies. It was from the gang members that the Anti-Piracy Cell authorities came to know that their operations were funded and controlled by Prem Kumar.
Rafeek added that the gang would hold special late night screenings of the movie in the theatre and then send a copy to Prem Kumar in the UK. He would then upload the pirated copies to various file sharing sites. By ruining the operations of the gang the Cell could prevent the piracy activities to a great extent.
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