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July 13, 1999

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Bootleggers booked: Pune police seize pirated software worth Rs 50 million. Michael Gonsalves
in Pune

Crime branch sleuths have raided the premises of a software company here and confiscated pirated software worth Rs 50 million.

Email this story to a friend. On a tip-off, a crack team led by Deputy Commissioner of Police (Crime) Surinder Kumar swooped down on Sujata Enterprises and found pirated software products from Microsoft, Adobe Systems and Tata Consultancy Services.

The pirated software was stored on 1,023 compact discs.

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Earlier, executives from the National Association of Software and Services Company had flown into Pune from New Delhi and complained to the police of a big piracy racket in the city.

The crime branch team also seized 23 computer mice and Rs 8,000 in cash.

Posing as a prospective customer of pirated software, the police approached Sumatilal Lodha of Sujata Enterprises for a deal in pirated software and after the deal was fixed, the police nabbed Lodha.

DCP Kumar says Lodha has been booked under the relevant sections of the Copyright Act. The Copyright Act not only covers literature, photographs, audio and video content but also computer software. Violation of the Act is a non-bailable offence.

A NASSCOM team keeps a vigil across the country to identify companies that use pirated software.

A NASSCOM team including Bharat Veer, Surjit Singh, Gurjeet Singh and Sunil Kumar noticed rampant use of pirated software in New Delhi.

When DCP Kumar received their complaint, he formed a special team comprising ACP P N Ingle, Assistant Police Inspector Shekar Tore and five computer literate constables.

Masquerading as a customer, a constable went into the office of Sujata Enterprises and made inquiries about buying Microsoft's popular Windows operating system.

The constable was taken to Lodha who offered to sell him a pirated version for Rs 1,000.

The constable came out and informed the police team about his talk with Lodha. Armed with this information, the team led by DCP Kumar barged into the office and checked it thoroughly.

The two computer experts accompanied the team. After an hour-long search, the policemen recovered the pirated software.

The police say further investigations should unravel more cases of software piracy in the city.

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