CHENNAI: Investigating the leak of actor-politician Vijay’s last film, ‘Jana Nayagan’, the State Cyber Crime Wing arrested three main accused in the case, including a freelance film assistant editor, on Wednesday.

A note from the cyber cops said the prime accused was a freelance assistant editor working on an unrelated movie, who allegedly gained unauthorised access to the original reels of Jana Nayagan at an editing studio. He stole the data, rendered it into a full-length feature, and shared it with co-accused, triggering widespread circulation online, it said. Meanwhile, industry sources claimed that he was an apprentice to the editor.

According to officials, these arrests come after six others were previously held for disseminating and uploading the pirated content. Based on detailed technical analysis and examination of digital evidence, the Cyber Crime Wing zeroed in on the key perpetrators.

The three accused were produced before the court and remanded in judicial custody.

After the digital copy of the film, which is yet to be cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification, was leaked on various online platforms, a case was registered on April 11.