66 hard drives stolen from Zoya Akhtar’s production house; two arrested

Filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's production banner, Tiger Baby Digital, recently faced troubles after dozens of hard disks containing sensitive film and OTT project data were allegedly stolen from its Mumbai office.

As per reports, police have arrested two individuals in connection with the theft, including an office staff member who allegedly had access to the storage units.

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Zoya Akhtar's production house theft

According to officials, a total of 66 hard disks went missing from the Bandra-based office, which allegedly stored production-related material, including unreleased footage, archived files, advertisement content, edits, and backup data connected to several projects under the Tiger Baby banner.

Reports claim that the missing content included data connected to titles such as Made in Heaven and Ghost Stories.

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About the investigation

The matter was highlighted after employees were unable to find a hard disk required for routine office work. An internal check of the storage cabinets allegedly revealed that multiple original devices had either disappeared or been replaced with empty and damaged boxes.

This led the company to reach out to the police, and a formal complaint was later filed at Bandra police station by the company’s executive assistant and HR administrator, Mehjabeen Mushtaq Sheikh.

According to reports, during the investigation, police identified Mohammed Shahid Azim Khan, a 28-year-old office boy from Vakola in Santacruz, as a prime suspect, who was responsible for managing the storage drives at the office.

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Nearly 100 drives stolen

Investigators allege that Khan had been removing hard disks over several months and selling them in the grey market. Police said he sold several of the devices to Ritesh Suresh Shah, a stationery shop employee from Borivali, for amounts ranging between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000 per drive.

It is suggested that nearly two dozen hard disks were stolen over the last five months alone, while preliminary estimates indicate that over 100 drives may have disappeared from the production house in total.

The missing hard disks reportedly ranged from 16TB to 72TB in storage capacity and are estimated to be collectively worth around Rs 13 lakh.

Currently, authorities are trying to recover the remaining devices.

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Zoya Akhtar reacts

Reacting to the incident, Zoya Akhtar told Bollywood Hungama, "Yes there has been a theft in my office, hard disks have been stolen. We filed a complaint and police has made some arrests as well. It’s an internal job, it’s sad to what extent people go to make money."

She further added, "Luckily we have backup files of everything."

As per reports, the accused have been booked under Section 306 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, related to theft by an employee, along with other relevant provisions under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act. Both have been remanded to police custody until May 29, and further investigation is underway.