Started piracy:
Built 100+ mirror sites
leaked 21,000+ movies
leaked movies even before release
built huge telegram channels + gambling apk network
caused 24,000+ crore loss to Indian film industry
hacked govt websites of bihar, jharkhand & election commission of India
hacked ott/distributor servers
ran servers in france, netherlands, switzerland
bought st. kitts citizenship to dodge law
earned crores (only ₹3cr frozen so far)
50 lakh+ user data entries seized (downloads, identity, etc.)
Taunted police “catch me if you can” finally arrested after 6 month chase
Sometime back a guy from UP, I think, was arrested because he had develop a system that can help people book tatkal ticket faster. Instead of appreciating his talent they punished him.
You should know that the entire story of ‘Catch me if you can’ was a hoax. The guy made everything up to sell his book, thinking a spicy story would sell well. That same book got adapted (by Steven Spielberg, no less) into a big budget hollywood film without any research into the author’s claims.
Yes, individuals have been arrested for developing and using unauthorized software to book
Tatkal train tickets faster, as these systems are illegal because they bypass the official Indian Railway Catering and Tourism Corporation (IRCTC) system and its rules, denying genuine users a fair chance.
Two prominent cases include,
S. Yuvarajaa (2020) An IIT Kharagpur graduate was arrested in Tamil Nadu for creating the “Super Tatkal” and “Super Tatkal Pro” apps. His apps allowed users to pre-fill information to speed up the booking process, which bypassed certain IRCTC protocols. He charged users a nominal fee through an in-app “coin” system and reportedly earned around ₹20 lakh over four years. The Railway Protection Force (RPF) arrested him under the Railways Act for running an unauthorized business of procuring and supplying railway tickets.
Ajay Garg (2017) An Assistant Programmer with the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) was arrested for developing an illicit software that subverted the railway’s Tatkal reservation system. This software could book hundreds of tickets in one go, much faster than the normal process. He allegedly sold the software to agents through an aide, Anil Kumar Gupta (nabbed in Uttar Pradesh), and the operation involved receiving payments through cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and hawala networks.
These arrests highlight that while the innovation itself might seem helpful to a user, bypassing the official regulatory framework and payment systems of IRCTC for commercial gain is illegal, as it creates an uneven playing field and facilitates black-market sales of tickets.
