New Delhi, May 26, 2026 — A major digital data theft has sent shockwaves through the Indian entertainment industry. Tiger Baby Digital LLP, the prominent production banner co-founded by acclaimed filmmakers Zoya Akhtar and Reema Kagti, has fallen victim to a massive internal breach. The Bandra police in Mumbai have registered a First Information Report (FIR) and arrested two men, including a trusted long-term employee, for allegedly stealing 66 high-capacity hard drives valued at approximately ₹13 lakh.
While the market value of the physical storage hardware is substantial, industry insiders note that the actual worth of the proprietary, unreleased content stored inside them is irreplaceable, posing an alarming security threat to the production house.
How the High-Stakes Theft Was Discovered
The sophisticated data breach was uncovered on May 21, 2026, during routine operations at Tiger Baby’s office in Bandra West, where a close-knit team of 11 employees works. According to police reports, staff members asked the office support staffer, Mohammad Shahid Khan, to retrieve a specific hard disk from the main storage cupboard. Khan, 28, who had been employed with the filmmakers for seven years and was solely responsible for managing the inventory, failed to produce the drive.
Suspicious of his evasive behavior, executive assistant and HR administrator Mehjabeen Mushtaq Shaikh decided to personally inspect the storage cabinet. What she discovered was alarming: the cabinet was filled with empty, damaged, and partially burnt packaging boxes arranged neatly to mimic full storage. Curiously, there were absolutely no burn marks or signs of smoke inside the wooden cupboard itself, indicating that the original hard disk boxes had been taken out, emptied, tampered with elsewhere, and put back to delay detection.
Shocked by the discovery, the management ordered an immediate, comprehensive internal audit of their digital assets. The audit revealed that out of 119 hard disks stored in the office, a staggering 66 drives were entirely missing.
Millions in Digital Loss: What Was on the Hard Disks?
The stolen hardware consists of ultra-high-capacity professional storage drives ranging from 16TB to 72TB. These devices served as the central archive for Tiger Baby’s extensive creative portfolio. The compromised files include:
- Raw and Unreleased Footage: Master files and primary camera logs from ongoing production milestones.
- Post-Production Data: Rough cuts, edited timeline sequences, VFX plates, and color-graded footage.
- Commercial & OTT Archives: Completed master files, promotional assets, and extensive backups of critical commercial projects and acclaimed streaming titles, including Amazon Prime Video’s Made in Heaven and Netflix’s anthology Ghost Stories.
Police Investigation and Arrests
Following the internal audit, Mehjabeen Mushtaq Shaikh approached the Bandra Police Station on Sunday to register a formal complaint. Acting swiftly on the FIR, the police team detained the primary suspect, Mohammad Shahid Khan.
During intense interrogation, Khan cracked and confessed to executing the inside job. He admitted to systematically stealing 24 of the high-end hard disks over the past five months. Driven by quick financial gain, he sold these premium devices in the grey market to a 48-year-old resident of Borivali identified as Ritesh Shah (also named as Ritesh Shah in local reports). Khan allegedly liquidated the hardware—worth tens of thousands each—for a paltry sum of ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 per disk.
Based on the confession, the Bandra police arrested both Mohammad Shahid Khan and the receiver of the stolen property, Ritesh Shah. The authorities have invoked strict provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including charges related to theft by a servant of property in possession of an employer, and dishonestly receiving stolen property. On Monday, a local court remanded both accused to police custody until May 29, 2026.
The Unanswered Questions and Industry Impact
While the local police have made vital early breakthroughs, a cloud of uncertainty still hangs over the extent of the recovery. Investigators are currently focusing on two crucial areas:
This shocking security lapse highlights a critical vulnerability faced by boutique production houses in Bollywood. As the industry transitions completely into digital workflows, relying heavily on localized physical storage servers rather than decentralized, encrypted cloud backups leaves creative assets exposed to physical insider threats. Tiger Baby Digital LLP has currently declined to comment further on the case as the police try to trace the missing media archives.