Director Laxman Utekar's historical film Chhava, based on the life of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj, has emerged as the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025. However, the film has also fallen victim to large-scale piracy. A total of 1,818 illegal internet links of the movie were discovered online, prompting South Region Cyber Police to initiate legal action. In connection with the case, 26-year-old Sagar Manik Randhavan was arrested from Daund, Pune.
The film, starring Vicky Kaushal in the lead role, was released globally on Valentine’s Day, 14th February. Despite its success, it was found that pirated links of the movie were unlawfully uploaded to the internet. During investigation, cyber police discovered 1,818 illegal links circulating online.
Following a complaint, the South Regional Cyber Police registered a case under several sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita Section 316(2) and 308(3), along with Sections 51, 63, and 65(A) of the Copyright Act, Section 6(A)(A) of the Cinematography Act, and Sections 43 and 66 of the Information Technology Act.
Among the illegal links reported by the complainant, the "Skymovie HD" link was traced back to the accused Sagar Randhavan. Technical investigations revealed that the accused had purchased a domain named "Sky Movie Tech" from a hosting service and had developed an app titled "Sky Movie HD Tech." Through this app, users could pay and download pirated versions of Chhava and other newly released films.
Based on this evidence, Randhavan was arrested on Friday from Daund. He was produced in court and has been remanded to police custody until April 13.
Rajat Rahul Haksar (37), CEO of August Entertainment Pvt. Ltd., lodged the complaint with police. The company was appointed as an anti-piracy agency by Maddock Films Pvt. Ltd., the producers of Chhava. Their internal investigation led to the discovery of 1,818 illegal internet links related to the film. Based on their findings, the company approached cyber police and shared detailed information regarding the pirated links.
Cyber police are currently conducting further investigations into the matter.