The Madras High Court on Thursday (July 2, 2026) refused to grant bail to two of the 21 accused in Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay-starrer Jana Nayagan leak case, after being told by the prosecution that as many as 1.2 crore people had watched the movie online even before it could be certified for public exhibition by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and released officially.

Justice C. Kumarappan dismissed the bail petitions filed by the fourth accused S. Rajini and 11^th accused Jayaprakash after taking note of the serious charge that the first petitioner’s brother, who was a freelance film editor and the prime accused in the case, had stolen the movie clips in a hard drive from an edit suite and thereafter, the movie had been uploaded in full to Google drive.

A government counsel told the court that the prime accused and two of his brothers were instrumental in clubbing all the disjointed movie clips into one before uploading them on Google drive, from where it had found its way to piracy websites such as Tamil Rockers and others, leading to a whopping 1.2 crore people having watched the uncertified movie until it was blocked.

The film’s producers KVN Productions had filed a civil suit in the High Court and obtained an interim injunction order restraining all Internet Service Providers in the country from permitting their platforms to be used for the unauthorised exhibition of the movie.

The counsel also told the court that two of the accused involved in the case were absconding and their arrest was essential to unearth the financial transactions that had taken place behind the crime. Though the fourth accused was apprehended in April and the 11^th accused was arrested last month, their continued incarceration was absolutely necessary, he said.

The prosecution feared that the petitioners might end up tampering with the evidence and witnesses if they were let out on bail solely in view of their prolonged incarceration. It also stated only a preliminary charge sheet had been filed before the trial court so far, and that the police were yet to complete the investigation in full before filing the final charge sheet.