Jana Nayagan movie leak: Freelance editor arrested for stealing Vijay’s film from a studio

Following a week-long probe into the leak of actor-politician Vijay's unreleased film 'Jana Nayagan', the Tamil Nadu cybercrime police said they have nabbed the main accused, a freelance assistant editor for another movie.

"He unauthorizedly gained access to the reels of the Jana Nayagan movie at the editing studio and stole it. The stolen data was then rendered into a movie and shared with the co-accused, leading to the circulation and wider dissemination of the pirated copies online," reads a Police statement.

The Police made three arrests on Wednesday, April 15, produced the trio before the Court, and remanded them to judicial custody. It was added that the arrests were made based on detailed technical analysis and examination of digital evidence. At the start of this week, the police arrested six people involved in the dissemination and uploading of pirated content.

Made at an estimated cost of Rs.500cr, the film was slated for a January 9th release, ahead of the Pongal festive weekend in Tamil Nadu. However, objections from the censor board and a subsequent legal battle kept indefinitely postponing its release. The film had generated immense buzz, as it was touted as Vijay's final cinematic venture. On April 9th, high-quality versions of the unreleased film, select clips began doing the rounds online during the late hours. The links to this content was being widely shared on social media and instant messaging platforms. Following this, the makers had warned of Criminal action against those circulating the leaked content. Despite the initial crackdown by the authorities, a local cable TV operator in Coimbatore had managed to telecast some portions of the unreleased film on his network. Following complaints, he was nabbed by the Police.

The unreleased film's online leak has been a major setback for Vijay, whose party made its poll debut in Puducherry on 9thApril and would be making its debut in the Tamil Nadu polls on 23rdApril. In his home state, Tamil Nadu, Vijay himself will be contesting from two constituencies: Perambur in Chennai and Trichy East. In his recent campaign speeches, Vijay, whose TVK party is fighting the poll alone, had blamed the DMK and BJP for conspiring against him and placing hurdles.

"Every scene carries someone's dream. The leak before release is truly painful. Please support by not sharing it,"JanaNayagan's Director H Vinoth had posted on social media following the leak.