Firstly, a word of thanks to all our readers worldwide. We received over 300 emails detailing their views & opinions on Part 1 of our story. It is due to their enormous support that team IMT has been encouraged to pursue a sequel to this report.
Contd from Part 1 (click to read previous)
In the Second & last of our 2 series report on the study of the Anti Piracy game in India, as promised to all you readers, team IMT dug deep & dug wide into the thick of the PIRATES’ territory.
In a sting operation, we caught up with a well-known Pirate in Mumbai, who revealed some of the most powerful and influential kingpins of the Pirates’ lobby.
(Click here to read the transcript of the hidden camera interview)
Part 1 of our story carried strong views from 2 of the most eminent personalities in the Indian Anti Piracy Crusade Mr.JN Saksena (Chief Coordinator) IMI & Mr.Vijay Kamble (Sr.Officer, T Series Detection Cell)
A quick recap of their important statements –
Mr.JN Saksena
“Piracy in India is most definitely operated by a crime syndicate. No crime syndicate can be operated without patrons in or outside the government. Mr. Riberio is a very senior person and I respect his statements but I feel that the pavement pirates are just front men to the bigger pirates. But that doesn’t mean he is not committing a crime and we should not initiate proceedings against him. In the same breath let me add that nabbing a smaller fry like the pavement pirate and letting off the bigger guys is like committing a crime yourself. Yes I agree we are not able to get to the big guys of the game but that has not stopped us in our operations.”
“When pirates have powerful people backing them, then we become small fries because then it all transpires into a question of big money. We had recently conducted a raid in Muradabad.In Muradabad the local MLA came to rescue the pirate after we nabbed the pirate with great difficulty. But we didn’t leave it at that. Along with senior police officers we brought it to the notice of Ms.Mayawati, the Hon. Chief Minister of UP. Ms.Mayawati in a party meeting of BSP MLA’s announced openly that if anybody interfered in the work of the police department then you will lose the rights to party membership. She asked the concerned MLA publicly “How dare you support the criminal?”
If a local MLA has to come to the rescue of a pirate and the chief minister of a state has to intervene in the situation, obviously the situation is more serious than meets the eye.
“ In a certain way all the pirates are loosely knit since the criminal thread runs through all of them. No, they do not have any association but the big pirates across the states meet once a month and discuss the activities we undertake against them. They too have their own set of informers and friends in the police departments. They have their own set of advocates and lawyers.”
“I do not rule out the possibility of these MASTER CDs coming into India from Pakistan. See if you notice India’s borders you will understand that it is an open border….”
Mr.Vijay Kamble
“The last time we raided Ulhasnagar and Kalyan in Mumbai we discovered that most of the MASTER CDs that are used to replicate the CDs come from Pakistan. There is definitely a big role played by Pakistan in the rampant Piracy spreading across India.
I would say the king pins of this industry sit across the border and operate.”
Enlightened by this view that PIRACY in India had developed to new levels where it was being termed as an ORGANISED CRIME, we decided to check the truth of the situation on the ground.
The ground breaking PIRATES’ interview shattered the law enforcement agencies’ views who believed or rather still believe that PIRACY in India is not an organised CRIME.
To re affirm the statements and the names spilt out during the pirates’ interview, team IMT also spoke to Mr.Sanjay Mohite, DCP Enforcement Wing, Mumbai Police and Mr. SBK Singh, Additional Commissioner, EOW, Delhi.
The Police Department confirmed the fact that this heinous crime was being run in a very systematic & organised manner. Moreover these senior Police Personnel have voiced out their expectations from the music companies in India.
Through this newsletter, the Delhi & Mumbai Police Departments have requested the Music Industry to be more cooperative with the Police in the Anti Piracy efforts.
What follows below is an IMT Reality Check on the Anti Piracy Scenario in India.
The Pirates Interview (click to read)
Interview with Mr.Sanjay Mohite, DCP, Enforcement Branch, Mumbai Police (click to read)
Interview with Mr. SBK Singh, Additional Commissioner, EOW, Delhi Police (click to read)
It is our aim to bring together the dissenting voices within the music industry and pirate’s lobby and make some sense of the cacophony.
So please write in with your comments to
