iBomma piracy controversy: Who is Immadhi Ravi?

Hyderabad Cybercrime police have arrested Immadhi Ravi, a key operator of the piracy website iBomma, in a major breakthrough against digital film piracy over the weekend. He was sent to 14-day judicial remand to Chanchalguda central jail on Sunday, tv9 telugu reported.

Ravi was taken into custody after arriving from France. He was reportedly running the piracy website from Caribbean islands.

Telugu film producers lodge complaints over piracy:

The arrest comes after many Telugu film producers had lodged complaints against the widespread circulation of their newly released movies on iBomma. Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce has said that rampant piracy is causing massive losses to the industry.

Ravi on the run since October 3:

He has been on the run since October 3, when he travelled to Amsterdam and kept changing IP addresses to prevent detection. Assuming that the trail had gone cold, he returned to Hyderabad a few days ago, when police arrested him. Investigators reportedly traced him through mobile signals.

Cybercrime authorities will likely file a plea in Nampally court on Monday to seek seven-day custody to question Ravi on the full extent of his network and links.

Ravi, who is from Visakhapatnam, is reportedly the main individual behind piracy networks iBomma, Bappam and 65 other mirror websites, which attract 37 lakh users every month.

These websites would upload newly released Telugu, Tamil, Kannada, Hindi and Malayalam films and OTT content, immediately after they released to draw traffic and ad revenue.

Hard disks seized:

Police reportedly seized hard disks from Ravi’s Kukatpally home and blocked access to these websites.

Betting apps and gaming sites promoted the films in exchange for ad slots, financing the racket. Police said that the site heavily relied on Telegram groups and virtual private servers abroad and crypto payments.