4,000 pirated books worth 25 lakh seized, 7 arrested

PUNE: In seven simultaneous raids on JM and FC roads on Wednesday, the crime branch arrested seven people and seized around 4,000 pirated copies of books worth around Rs 25 lakh. The raids were conducted by a team led by senior inspector Bhanupratap Barge of the social security cell, following complaints from six publishing houses.
Prabhakar Thakur (31), Akhilesh Pal (21) and Nathu Yadav (19), all from Kothrud, have been arrested from three places on FC Road.They were working under Virendra Pal, who is at large. Major Rajan Pandey (20), Dwarika Vishwakarma (21) and Raganesh Pal (28), all from Shastrinagar, Kothrud, have been nabbed from JM Road. The police also have arrested Ajit Thakkar (52), who owns a book stall on FC Road.
Barge told TOI that, "Six publication houses have complained to the crime branch regarding the sale of pirated copies of their books in the city. A case under various sections of the Indian Copyright Act has been registered against the suspects at the Deccan Gymkhana police station."
The investigating team included sub-inspector Dattatreya Suravase and constables Ashok Takalkar, Sanjay Memane, Vinayak Pathak, Subash Sulke, Bapu Jambhlae and Kashinath Ubhe.
DVDs MP3s seized:
The officials from unit-III of the Pune crime branch on Wednesday arrested two persons and seized 1,400 DVDs and 200 MP3s worth Rs 76,000. A team led by inspector Mohan Vidhate made the arrests at Sangvi and Dapodi. Sandesh Borde (19) of Dapodi and Anil Rasal (30) of Sangvi have been charged under various sections of the Indian Copyright Act.