HYDERABAD: The Hyderabad Cyber Crime police have said that Immadi Ravi, the accused in the movie piracy case, allegedly colluded with betting platform operators and posed a direct threat to the nation’s financial stability and digital safety.
The police arrested him in Hyderabad on November 15. He is at present lodged in Chanchalguda jail.
According to the remand report, Ravi colluded with the operators of these gaming and betting platforms by diverting massive user traffic to their illegal networks.
By colluding with them, “he has not only facilitated large-scale financial exploitation of the people but also posed a direct threat to the financial stability and digital safety of the country,” the remand report said.
The traffic generated from the piracy websites was diverted through multiple intermediary domains, eventually leading users to online gaming and betting platforms. There, over 3.7 million users were lured with promotional offers, bonuses, and misleading advertisements, encouraging them to participate in online betting activities.
Police said that to prevent his arrest, Ravi created multiple websites under various extensions to host pirated movies, despite repeated blocking attempts. Besides, a total of 17 domains used to host the pirated content were found to be controlled by Ravi.
Money trail
Meanwhile, the police are also tracking the money trail. “The illicit money trail from several cryptocurrency wallets to the accused’s NRE bank account has to be verified,” the remand report said.
Police stated that Cloudflare hosting enables high quality and small size of files, which attract millions of users. Approximately 95% of piracy websites, including iBomma, rely on Cloudflare hosting, which shields them from takedown efforts and enables their continued operation.
The availability of high-quality, small-sized files for free download on these platforms attracts millions of users, severely undermining legitimate viewership through theatres and authorised OTT platforms, police alleged.
During the probe, police discovered that he used two domains. One was registered on July 16, 2025, with the name mekeindiashop.com, and another in 2012 with the name tradersin.com. Initially, after police blocked one domain, he used the other domain registered in 2012. Both domains were owned by Ravi under the company name ER Infotech.
It may be mentioned that this case was registered on August 30, based on a complaint filed by the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC). In this case, the police arrested Duddela Shivajee on September 24. After his arrest, he filed a bail plea in the Nampally court, which was rejected.
Meanwhile, police have filed a petition in Nampally court, seeking custody of Ravi. The court is likely to hear the petition on Wednesday.
Immadi’s modus operandi
Colluding with online betting platforms
Using Cloudflare hosting, shielding them from takedown efforts
Changing domain extensions to evade domain blocking