Hyderabad police arrested Emandi Ravi, the man behind the iBomma and Bappam piracy network. The raid, carried out on Friday, seized hard drives that held about 21,000 movies – from Hollywood blockbusters to Telugu releases – and revealed that the sites attracted roughly 5 million (50 lakh) users.
The police said Ravi operated over 65 mirror sites that tricked viewers into downloading movies for free. Those sites also pushed links to illegal gambling apps such as 1win and 1xbet, luring users into illegal betting.
Commissioner V. C. Sajjanar told reporters that the ringleader was linked to large‑scale online betting. He added that Ravi had even renounced his Indian citizenship, gaining citizenship in Saint‑Kitts and Nevis. He used servers in the Netherlands, Switzerland, the U.S., Thailand, France and Dubai, making it hard for authorities to track him.
Ravi vanished after he fled in 2019. Police finally caught up with him at an apartment in Kukatpally, Hyderabad. On his hard drives, they found 21,000 films and evidence that he had earned roughly ₹20 crore from the piracy and betting traffic. He used the money to buy property, and a ₹3.5 crore balance in his bank account was frozen.
“Thanks to the police, the platforms that were causing the industry massive losses are now shut down,” said Tollywood star Chiranjeevi at the press conference. Other actors, producers Dil Raju and Suresh Babu, also thanked the authorities for dismantling the network.
The case was filed under Indian Penal Code sections 66C and 66E, as well as the Copyright Act. A prior complaint from the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce in August had highlighted the losses to producers, distributors and exhibitors from the pirated sites.
Investigators are still probing foreign accounts and cryptocurrency wallets to trace more of Ravi’s proceeds. For now, the crackdown signals a strong message to piracy and illegal betting operations targeting the Telugu film industry and beyond.
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