Man on run for 12 years nabbed from Lucknow

New Delhi, July 3  The Economic Offences Wing (EOW) of Delhi Police has arrested a 49-year-old man, who was evading arrest since 2011 in connection with a case in which he allegedly used pirated version of the original videos under deceptive titles and sold the same in the open market, an official said on Monday.

The accused was identified as Raghunath Shahi, a resident of Kanpur district in Uttar Pradesh. A reward of Rs 50,000 was declared on information leading to his arrest.

According to police, in 2005, a case was registered in Preet Vihar police station on the complaint of Rajesh Bajaj in which it was alleged that Shahi used to create animation short stories and sold its rights to him on April 9, 2005 through his firm Bostan Software.

Bajaj claimed that he held exclusive copyright over the cinematographic films including the container box, its size, colour scheme, lettering style, layout and their respective catalogues. Bajaj further claimed that one Amit Sharma, proprietor of Interlude Technology, Janak Puri, New Delhi (the main accused in the case) had been deceiving and defrauding the general public by preparing/reproducing the pirated version of the original work under the deceptive titles.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (EOW), Vikram Porwal, said that during the investigation, Amit Sharma joined the investigation and submitted his agreement with Shahi prior to the agreement executed with Bajaj.

However, Shahi didn't join the investigation despite opportunities given to him and he was declared ‘proclaimed offender’ on January 24, 2011.

“Consistent efforts were made to arrest Shahi but he was so desperate to evade arrest that he changed his previous address and mobile number. However, after prolonged efforts and by mounting constant manual and technical surveillance, he was arrested from Kanpur, after several days of intense search in Muzaffarpur (Bihar) and Kanpur (UP),” said the DCP.

In Kanpur, Shahi was found working as a store in-charge at the site of a thermal power plant situated near Kanpur.

During interrogation, it was revealed that Shahi used to prepare pirated versions of the original work under deceptive titles and sold the same in the open market.

--IANS

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