Custody of ‘Ibomma’ Ravi ends as police firm up evidence in ₹20 crore piracy probe

As the five-day custody questioning of Immadi Ravi, also known as Ibomma Ravi, came to an end on Monday, officers from the Hyderabad police said that they have built solid evidence against him of the money flow linked to advertisement and wider data trial.

An officer involved in the probe said investigators had been tracking the movements of Immadi Ravi for weeks, tracing his phone numbers and monitoring his contacts before closing in on him. According to the officer, surveillance on one associate led them to a crucial device in which they found a message confirming that Ravi was in Hyderabad after arriving from France.

The officer said the custody questioning allowed the team to build concrete evidence through what he described as a complete analysis of money flow, advertising links, his involvement in the betting applications and the wider data trail.

“The ibomma sites had already been shut down by Ravi himself, although mirror versions continue to surface, and will be acted upon whenever a complaint is filed about them,” said the officer, adding that Ravi is cooperating with the investigation.

Immadi Ravi, 39, a native of Visakhapatnam, who is a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis, is the primary accused in the piracy racket. He was arrested from an apartment on Green Hills Road in Kukatpally after Hyderabad Cyber Crimes police traced the backend infrastructure of the operation.

Cyber Crimes officers had secured five days of police custody after the Nampally court on November 19 ruled that further interrogation was necessary to uncover the network supporting the large-scale piracy ecosystem. From November 20, Ravi was being taken from Chanchalguda jail to the Cyber Crimes office each day for questioning.

Police said the seized hard drives contain nearly 21,000 films in multiple languages. Investigators believe he earned about ₹20 crore through the operation and used the money to purchase flats and plots. Roughly ₹3.5 crore in his bank accounts has been frozen as the inquiry progresses.