Cyber crime finds leads to Udta Punjab online leak

After an FIR was registered with cyber cell regarding a copy of Udta Punjab movie being released online, officials are trying hard to trace the origin of the leak. According to sources, the cyber crime officials have received some leads from the Internet service providers.

On Wednesday, producers of the movie had approached the cyber police seeking an investigation after a copy of the movie was leaked online before its official release. Sources said that nearly 800 websites had uploaded the movie and it had been downloaded around 70,000 times from various sites.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, an officer from the cyber police said that the leaked copy was the uncensored one. “The movie available for download clearly mentions that it is the one not subjected to any cuts. Not even the one recommended by the Bombay high court,” said the officer. Another officer mentioned that they are talking to everybody who had access to the uncensored copy to get more leads into the case.

“We have recorded statements of nearly 25 people. All of them had at some point of time access to the specific copy which was leaked online,” said an officer.

The officers are now awaiting replies from Internet service providers who had been approached following the FIR. “We have asked them to send the details of the IP addresses of the users or systems which first uploaded the movie,” said an officer. He added that this would also help them round up which website first uploaded it.

“We have various leads and are investigating all angles,” said Sachin Patil, DCP (cyber crime).

The police has registered an FIR against unknown persons under the Copyright Act and the Information Technology Act for this case.