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KK Jha, owner of Delhi-based KK
Software who was
by the CBI in the last week of December
2009, has finally got a reprieve. Jha was released on bail, after
staying for over two months in judicial custody for allegedly selling
fake Microsoft software. Harsh Bhal, Spokesperson, CBI further
revealed the status of the pending cases registered under section
120b r/w 406,419,420,486, and 489 of IPC, Sec 66(b) of the IT Act and
Section 63 of the Copyright Act. “We released Jha and his store
manager Krishna Kumar on Feb 20. However, the case is still under
investigation,” Bhal elaborated. Interestingly, KK Jha's brother
Shailesh, who managed to get bail a day after the incident, is now
back in judicial custody.
Sources insist that the bail for KK Jha
finally came through, only once his
brother Shailesh, who had
been absconding since getting bail, was caught again by the CBI.
When
The DQ Week contacted Microsoft, who were instrumental in
getting the raid conducted, for their reaction on Jha getting bail,
the software vendor refused to comment.
However, they said they have always
been active in educating their partners on anti-piracy practices and
will be taking strict measures in the future so that things like
these do not happen again. “Microsoft has ongoing initiatives to
reduce the level of piracy in the country which is at a staggering 68
percent (as per the Sixth Annual BSA and IDC Global Software Piracy
Study). As an industry leader, Microsoft believes it has a
responsibility to protect consumers and businesses from the negative
impact of software piracy. Through its own efforts, as well as in
partnership with industry groups, it is committed to develop and
implement technology solutions to help protect intellectual property.
Microsoft's key initiatives are focused on increasing awareness for
the benefits of using original software and the perils of pirated
software, increasing access to original Microsoft software and
delivering affordable technology products and solutions to
customers,” said Vipul Sant, Director-Original Software
Initiative, Microsoft India.
Meanwhile, partners in Nehru Place
pointed out that the road to redemption would be very tough for Jha
and it will be difficult for him to once again scale the heights of
software reselling. “Though Jha has not really resumed work
officially, but he is already active in collecting money from the
market that he was not able to, courtesy his detention. And as far as
his business is concerned, I think it can't reach the same heights
as the arrest has left a huge question mark on his credibility as a
software dealer,” said a partner based in the Delhi market.
In fact partners speaking to The DQ
Week insisted that collecting outstanding payments is becoming
difficult for Jha, since partners who had brought stock from Jha are
only willing to pay him now once their stock is sold. So at the
moment the priority for Jha is to collect all the outstanding credit
in the market.
When The DQ Week tried speaking
to Jha, the receptionist at his office revealed, “Jha has started
coming to office once in a while but he won't be talking to anyone
on the issue.” It is now a wait and watch situation to see if KK
Software manages to recover from the setback that the CBI raid has
caused to its business.