Maharashtra police arrested an engineer who ran the Thop TV app to spread pirated OTT content: report

Maharashtra cyber police arrested an IT engineer in Hyderabad for allegedly streaming pirated content from various OTT platforms and satellite channels on an Android application called Thop TV. The 28-year-old engineer Satish Venkateshwarlu has been running the Thop TV application and its website for the past two years and providing content for a nominal Rs subscription fee. According to a report, 35 times a month. He was arrested on Monday, July 12, at his residence in Ghulam Guda, a residential area in the Langaredi district of Hyderabad.

According to the “News Minutes” report, the police stated that Venkateshwarlu was arrested after the broadcaster Viacom18 Media filed a complaint. However, some other broadcasters, including Star India, have also filed lawsuits against Thop TV in the past.

According to reports, Viacom18 Media filed a complaint with the Maharashtra network team, accusing the Thop TV application of unauthorized transmission of its content. However, it is said that the local police did not learn of the arrest.

Thop TV is very popular among users and provides various content such as sports games, movies and TV shows on various OTT platforms and channels at a very low subscription cost, attracting hundreds of thousands of viewers. It is said that the platform also has 5,000 paid subscribers.

The police registered Venkateshwarlu for cheating in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Indian Criminal Code, the Information Technology Act and the Copyright Act. He has been remanded in custody awaiting trial until July 19.

Soon after being arrested, users can no longer access Thop TV. A report by The Indian Express indicated that Venkateshwarlu is using APIs to extract content directly from the OTT platform to his application and website.