Hyderabad, Nov 17 (NationPress) Emandi Ravi, the alleged mastermind behind the iBomma/Bappam piracy operation, reportedly possessed data of 5 million subscribers and around 21,000 movies stored on his hard drives, as disclosed by the Hyderabad Police on Monday.

Police Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar informed the media that the suspect is also associated with extensive online betting applications.

The Cyber Crime police apprehended Ravi, who was running the iBomma/Bappam extensive movie piracy network, comprising over 65 mirror websites that have inflicted losses amounting to thousands of crores on the Telugu Film Industry.

Authorities discovered that the accused was redirecting millions of users from piracy sites to illicit betting services like 1win, 1xbet, among others.

Sajjanar held a press conference with prominent Tollywood figures such as Chiranjeevi, Nagarjuna, and noted producers Dil Raju and Suresh Babu to unveil the operational methods of Ravi's network.

The film industry representatives expressed gratitude to the Hyderabad Police for dismantling the piracy syndicate and shutting down its platforms, which were wreaking havoc on the industry.

The police had received a complaint in August from the Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC), alleging that piracy websites such as rao.ibomma.foo, bappam.dev, and approximately 65 related mirror domains (collectively referred to as iBomma/Bappam) were illegally uploading and distributing copyrighted Telugu films without permission. These platforms were hosting newly released theatrical and OTT movies in HD quality.

The complaint indicated that the operators frequently altered their domains, utilized Cloudflare hosting for anonymity, and attracted millions of users, leading to substantial ongoing losses for producers, distributors, and exhibitors. Following the complaint, a case was filed under sections 66C, 66E of the IT Act; 318(4) r/w 3(5) of BNS, along with sections 63 and 65 of the Copyright Act.

In September, police apprehended Duddela Shivajee (27) and Susarla Prashanth (27), both from Andhra Pradesh.

Ravi, 39, a resident of Hyderabad and originally from Visakhapatnam, was identified as the primary suspect, who had been eluding capture.

The Police Commissioner noted that he had issued a challenge to law enforcement to apprehend him.

To escape Indian legal consequences, the suspect renounced his Indian citizenship and obtained citizenship from Saint Kitts and Nevis. He frequently traveled to nations such as the Netherlands, Switzerland, USA, Thailand, France, and Dubai to collaborate with operators of gaming and betting applications.

By hosting his servers in foreign countries and operating his websites from various international locations, he made it exceedingly difficult for law enforcement to trace his activities, identify hosting servers, or compile actionable technical information, Sajjanar stated.

After analyzing technical data from various domain service providers, internet service providers, and passport authorities, the police successfully captured the suspect from an apartment in Kukatpally, Hyderabad, on Friday.

Among the items seized from the suspect were approximately 21,000 movies on his hard drives, spanning from Hollywood to Tollywood.

According to police reports, through this illegal piracy and betting promotion network, the suspect accrued an estimated Rs 20 crore. With these earnings, he purchased plots and apartments and maintained a bank balance of Rs 3.5 crore, which has now been frozen by authorities.

Ongoing investigations are being conducted to trace additional funds in foreign accounts and cryptocurrency wallets, as noted by the Police Commissioner.

Ravi completed his B.Sc. in Computers and later moved to Mumbai, where he worked in private firms and earned an MBA. Upon returning to Hyderabad in 2010, he founded ER Infotech, a web services company that focused on domain registration, hosting, and website development.

Noticing the high demand for online streaming, he envisioned creating a free high-quality movie website, generating revenue through advertisements. Concurrently, he recognized the rapid expansion of online gaming and betting platforms, identifying them as lucrative for advertisement partnerships. Utilizing his technical skills in web hosting and development, he launched the piracy website iBOMMA in 2019, marking the inception of his piracy and betting promotion ventures.