Zoya Akhtar-Reema Kagti's production house hit by ₹13L data theft
What's the story
In a shocking incident, Mumbai Police have arrested two individuals, including an employee of filmmaker duo Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti's production house, Tiger Baby Digital LLP. The accused are said to have stolen and sold disks with film scenes and advertisement footage worth ₹13L. The theft was discovered after 66 disks went missing from the Bandra West office on May 21.
Investigation details
Who is the accused
One of the accused, identified as Muhammad Shahid Azim Khan, was in charge of keeping the disks safe at the production house. He had been working there for seven years. On May 21, when other staff members asked him to bring the disks for work, he didn't return with them. A subsequent check revealed that several disks were missing, and some disk paper boxes had been burnt.
Admission of guilt
Another staff member might be involved
During the inquiry, Khan reportedly confessed to stealing 24 disks out of 119 in the last five months and selling them to a man named Ritesh Gupta in Borivali West. However, the complainant suspects that another staff member, Kalpesh Pawar, may also be involved in the theft. On behalf of Tiger Baby Digital LLP, Meghjabeen Mushtaq Sheikh, Executive Assistant and HR Admin, filed a complaint against Khan and Gupta.
Data theft implications
Discs contained unreleased content
The missing disks reportedly contained digital content related to films, web series, advertisements, raw footage, edited material, post-production backups, and unreleased project footage. The estimated value of the missing storage devices and data loss is said to be around ₹12-13L. However, industry insiders fear the actual damage could run into crores if any unreleased content gets leaked online.
Ongoing probe
Police are investigating the matter
The incident was reported to Bandra Police Station after an internal inquiry was launched by the production house. The stolen disks were high-capacity storage devices ranging from 16TB to 72TB, used for storing a massive amount of digital production data connected to films, OTT projects, and commercial shoots. Meanwhile, Bandra Police are trying to trace the remaining hard disks and determine whether the stolen data was accessed, copied, sold, or leaked further.