iBomma, Bappam platforms blocked following arrest of Ravi in Hyderabad

Immadhi Ravi, accused of running an international film piracy racket from the Caribbean, was arrested in Hyderabad and sent to 14-day judicial custody. Police blocked iBomma and Bappam websites, seized hard disks, and are probing crypto accounts for further leads

Hyderabad: The suspect in the film piracy racket operated from Caribbean islands, Immadhi Ravi, who was arrested by the city police, was produced before a magistrate on Saturday night and sent to judicial custody for 14 days.

The suspect was allegedly involved in uploading and distributing pirated Telugu and other regional language films and OTT content on piracy websites iBomma and Bappam. Ravi, who had thrown an open challenge to the police to arrest him, was picked up from a house in Kukatpally on Friday.

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After a case was registered, the suspect fled the country on October 1 and is suspected to have been in Amsterdam. Ravi came to the city a few days back under the impression that he would not be tracked by the police.

Cybercrime police will file a petition in Nampally Court on Monday to seek Ravi’s custody for seven days for questioning.

Police reportedly seized hundreds of hard disks from the house and after taking the login credentials from the suspect, the iBomma and Bappam platforms were also blocked. Ravi’s bank accounts and crypto accounts were being checked and the investigators hope to collect more information about the piracy rackets during further questioning.

Ravi’s network allegedly relied heavily on encrypted Telegram groups, overseas virtual private servers and cryptocurrency payments to mask its activities. Online gaming and betting websites were used to promote the pirated content, financing the racket in exchange for advertising.

A native of Visakhapatnam, Ravi is said to be highly educated and a technical expert. He reportedly acquired the expertise in hacking any server. Ravi started using his expertise to indulge in piracy of newly released movies. He was allegedly uploading pirated content on the website from the Caribbean islands.