Cable operator’s arrest exposes India’s unencrypted piracy racket

NEW DELHI: Haryana police have collared a cable operator in Sonipat for beaming unauthorised television signals—a bust that lays bare the booming black market in unencrypted feeds across northern India.
Anurag Narwal, known locally as Nura, was arrested in Gohana for illegally broadcasting JioStar channels without permission, according to storyboard18.com. The first information report charges him under the Copyright Act, 1957, for criminal infringement and possession of illicit broadcast kits.

Gohana police station inspector Arun Kumar confirmed the clamping of handcuffs on the guilty party. “The accused was arrested and was released on bail. We are investigating the matter further,” he said.
During a raid on premises in Kathmandi, Gohana, officers seized two optical transmitters and two optical receivers from the upper floor of a commercial shop. The gear had allegedly been used to distribute pirated signals.

The investigation has revealed that Narwal was sourcing the unauthorised feed from a multi-system operator in Panipat. Police are now probing whether other local cable operators were tapping into the same distribution chain—suggesting an unregulated network pumping unencrypted signals across multiple districts.

The absence of watermarking on these feeds has made tracing the source fiendishly difficult. Unlike encrypted satellite feeds or internet-delivered streams that carry forensic markers, unencrypted fibre-fed signals leave no traceable fingerprint once they are illicitly redistributed.

A senior executive at a leading entertainment broadcaster, speaking anonymously, called it a growing crisis. “The biggest loophole today is unencrypted distribution. When feeds are shared without watermarking, it becomes nearly impossible to trace who extracted it, who retransmitted it, and where the leak originated. It’s a blind spot that pirates have learned to exploit very effectively.”

The sector has poured money into anti-piracy technology, but broadcasters say these efforts crumble when multi-system operators and local cable operators run parallel networks outside the encrypted ecosystem. “We keep closing the gaps at our end, but unencrypted feeds undo everything,” another broadcaster said.
The ministry of information and broadcasting has launched a nationwide consultation with industry stakeholders to tighten anti-piracy mechanisms. In a notice dated 7 November 2025, the ministry said it is reviewing enforcement and monitoring frameworks to tackle piracy affecting films, television broadcasts and over-the-top content.

Industry players say the Haryana case makes the argument for mandatory watermarking unanswerable. Without it, they warn, illegal signal-sharing will keep multiplying—and crackdowns will remain a game of whack-a-mole that bleeds broadcasters and legitimate operators dry.

(The picture featured at the beginning of this report was generated by using gemini.ai and is representational in nature and in no way claims to be a picture of the accused or his or anyone else’s cable TV network by name. No offence to any one is intended)