Hyderabad Police Commissioner VC Sajjanar, FDC Chairman Dil Raju, actors Chiranjeevi and Nagarjuna view seized material in film piracy case in Hyderabad on Wednesday | Photo credit: SIDDHANT THAKUR
Hyderabad Cyber Crimes has secured a five-day police custody of the prime accused in the iBomma piracy racket, Immadi Ravi.
Meanwhile, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) and launched a money laundering investigation into the pirate empire.
The accused, Ravi Emandi (39), a native of Visakhapatnam and now a citizen of St Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean, was arrested from an apartment on Green Hills Road in Kukatpally.
A Nampally court on Wednesday allowed a custodial interrogation after investigators sought a week’s remand, arguing that further questioning was necessary to trace the network behind a large-scale movie piracy operation. The court granted five days after hearing both sides. A cyber crime officer of the Hyderabad police said that from November 20, he will be brought to the cyber crime bureau for questioning from Chanchalguda jail every day.
The Hyderabad police seized hard drives containing nearly 21,000 films in various languages from Ravi, also known as iBomma Ravi or Emandi Ravi. Officers estimate that he earned about ₹20 crore through the piracy ecosystem, using the proceeds to buy flats and land. About ₹3.5 million was frozen in his bank accounts.
Investigators said the accused also diverted thousands of users from pirated platforms to illegal betting sites, contributing to financial fraud and large-scale data theft. An ED officer said the ECIR has been registered and will start a parallel investigation targeting the money laundering part of the racket.
Published – 19 Nov 2025 20:29 IST
