On Tuesday, the Crime Intelligence Unit (CIU) of Mumbai Police conducted raids at Box Cinema offices at Chincholi Bunder area of Malad. The server owned by the company was seized along with various documents.

The owner of Box Cinema has already received an anticipatory bail from a Mumbai court in the Zanjeer copyright case.

WHEN WAS THE CASE FILED?

Renowned filmmaker Prakash Mehra, who had made some exemplary box office hit films like Zanjeer, had died in 2009. His son, Puneet Prakash Mehra, had registered a case at Juhu Police Station in Mumbai alleging copyright violation. In his complaint, Mehra had stated that the family was the sole holder of copyright to their film Zanjeer, the 1973 action thriller film starring Amitabh Bachchan and Pran in leading roles.

Mehra alleged that without any permission from the family, Zanjeer was shown on Box Cinema channel on March 12, 2020. Mehra had registered the case on October 7, 2020, with the Juhu Police Station and the investigating officer had arrested two people in connection with the case, 42 year old Raju Khan and Ghanshyam Suraj Giri. These people had allegedly given the print of the film to the Box Cinema owner.

CASE TRANSFERRED TO THE CIU ON JANUARY 1

However, the case did not progress any further and so the was transferred to the CIU on January 1. There are many accused in the case who are shown as wanted. Parveen Sheikh of Zoya films is also wanted in the case. The propreitors of Hazra films, Sonam films, and VIP films are also wanted.

According to Assistant Police Inspector Sachin Waze, whose team is investigating this copyright case, "There were Prakash Mehra's fake signature on bogus purchase and sale agreement which had been used to show as copyright over the film by these accused who are mainly agents. This has been going on since 1998."

Interestingly, Box Cinema is owned by Narayan Sharma, who was arrested by Waze's team in the TRP scam. Sharma was granted bail in the TRP scam case.

Source Link

 

Picture Source :