Tamil Rockers: The owner and associates of piracy website finally arrested

[Len]

The owner and associates of the notorious piracy site Tamil Rockers have been sent to judicial custody after the Kerala police arrested them.

In a major relief to Tamil and other South Indian film industries, the owner of Tamil Rockers and a few others associated with the notorious piracy website were arrested Wednesday, March 15, in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala.

The police arrested five people for their alleged involvement in piracy. Tamil Rockers owner Prabhu, DVD Rockers owner Johnson and their accomplices — Villupuram-native Karthi, Suresh and Maria John — have been arrested, reported Deccan Chronicle.

The cops reportedly followed the ads appearing on the website and made a breakthrough through a Haryana-based advertising firm that works with popular websites.

The company reportedly sent an email to a person from the piracy racket and it helped the cops to trace and nab the culprits.

Reports say that the five people who have been arrested had minted crores of rupees over the last few years through piracy.

Karthi and another associate earned over a crore, while the others made about Rs 75 lakh, said the Deccan Chronicle report. On an average, the gang members were reportedly making around Rs 1-2 lakh per month from piracy.

"All the gang members were technically qualified. They even included MSc and BSc holders in computer science. They used to record movies in pieces from various parts of the world and join them. We are trying to trace more members of the gang, including Karthi's brothers," anti-piracy cell Superintendent of Police BK Prasanthan Kani was quoted as saying by Deccan Chronicle.

Tamil Rockers was primarily operated from Villupuram, while DVD Rockers from Tirunelveli. The cops have recovered laptops, hard disks and other items that were used to record movies. The accused were produced in court, which sent them to judicial custody.

Tamil Rockers has been a headache for South Indian movies and especially for Kollywood. The notorious site used to release pirated copies of Tamil movies hours after the first screening of any Tamil film.

Actor Vishal has been trying hard to end piracy ever since he became the secretary of the Nadigar Sangam. Vishal, who is also president of the Tamil Nadu Film Producers' Council, has been requesting torrent sites to shut their operations because they impact the business of the film Industry.