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Cyber police probing ‘Udta Punjab’ leak

Producers of the film Udta Punjab have approached the cyber police after reports that the movie was leaked online before its release date.

Producers of the film Udta Punjab have approached the cyber police after reports that the movie was leaked online before its release date. The producers have named unidentified persons in their complaint.

According to officials, the makers of the film approached the cyber police station on Thursday night. “The cyber police registered an FIR after the legal team of Phantom Films approached them citing that the movie had been on several websites,” said Ashok Dudhe, DCP (operations) and Mumbai police spokesperson.

The film has been embroiled in a controversy following a court battle between the producers and the Censor Board. The Bombay high court recently approved the movie for release, with just one cut. Sources said that the movie was available on the Internet on Wednesday night, free to download.

The police has registered an offence under the Copyright Act, as well as the Information Technology Act. As part of its investigation, the cyber police on Thursday started recording statements from all the people who had access to the said print, which had been leaked.

“We are working on all possible angles and have started recording the statements of some people. These are people who could have had access to the print that was leaked and made available online,” said deputy commissioner of police Sachin Patil, cyber crime.

Officials sources said that the leaked copy was an uncensored one, without the cuts asked for by the Censor Board and the one cut recommended by the Bombay high court. This point was even made by Anurag Kashyap, producer of the movie. Speaking to media persons, Mr Kashyap said the cyber crime unit was investigating where the movie had been leaked. “It is not any of us.

The copy that has been leaked is the Censor Board copy,” he said. “This copy can be leaked and stolen by anybody and the officials are looking into it.”

Officials of the cyber cell unit added that they had also started contacting many Internet service providers. “We have contacted them and informed them to send us details of the Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to determine the location from where the movie was uploaded to websites. We suspect the movie was leaked on one website and then picked up by other sites either by themselves or by people who downloaded the movie,” an officer said.

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