HYDERABAD: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted interim bail to Ravi Emandi alias ‘iBomma’ Ravi, who is alleged to be the mastermind behind large-scale online movie piracy, on the ground that the chargesheet was not filed within the statutory 90-day period prescribed under law.
Justice K Sujana, while hearing a batch of five criminal petitions, held that the accused was entitled to statutory (default) bail as the Investigation Officer (IO) had failed to file the chargesheet within the mandatory time limit.
Though granting relief on technical grounds, the court imposed strict conditions on the accused: if he uses the internet, he must disclose the same to the authorities; he must report once daily to the Investigating Officer until the filing of the chargesheet; he shall cooperate with the investigation; he shall not indulge in any illegal activities; and he must surrender his passport before the magistrate concerned. Senior counsel Muzaffar Ali Khan, appearing for the petitioner, contended that the investigation had already been completed and that there was no justification for continued judicial custody.
He argued that once the statutory period had lapsed without filing of a chargesheet, the accused was entitled to default bail as a matter of right.
Opposing the bail pleas, Public Prosecutor Palle Nageshwar Rao submitted that the alleged acts of piracy had caused losses running into thousands of crores of rupees to the film industry. He argued that the magnitude of the offence and its economic impact warranted continued custody.
The prosecutor further informed the court that the petitioner allegedly possessed sophisticated equipment for producing pirated content, said to be located in the Netherlands. It was also submitted that the accused was holding an Irish passport, raising apprehensions that he might flee the country if released on bail.
Despite these objections, the court granted default interim bail strictly on the ground of non-compliance with the statutory time limit for filing the chargesheet, while safeguarding the investigation through stringent conditions.