Two persons have been arrested for allegedly stealing 66 hard disks containing crucial film and web series data from filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's production house Tiger Baby, police said on Tuesday.
As per a report in Bollywood Hungama, Zoya responded to the matter and said “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.”
The filmmaker, however, also revealed that the production house had safeguarded backup copies of the stolen content. “Luckily we have backup files of everything,” she added.
The theft came to light on Monday after Mehjabeen Shaikh, an executive assistant at Tiger Baby Digital LLP, lodged a formal complaint at the Bandra police station regarding the missing devices, an official said.
According to police, the 66 stolen hard disks contained important digital content, including raw footage, advertisements, post-production backups, and archives of various unreleased film and web series projects.
During the investigation, the police zeroed in on Mohammed Shahid Azim Khan (28), an office boy and resident of Vakola in Santacruz, who sold the storage devices to Ritesh Suresh Shah, a 44-year-old stationery shop employee, he said.
It was found that Mohammed had systematically stolen 24 hard drives over the last five months alone, selling each device to Ritesh for anywhere between Rs 15,000 and Rs 20,000, the official said.
Initial estimates suggest that more than 100 hard disks went missing from the production company's office over the past few months, he added.
The duo has been booked under section 306 (theft by employee) and other relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Information Technology Act and remanded in police custody till May 29, the official said.
(With inputs from PTI)
