Hyderabad Cyber Crime Police Shut Down iBomma, Bappam TV Websites

Hyderabad: The Cyber ​​Crime Police shut down the iBomma and Bappam TV websites for running a high-speed piracy network.

Immadi Ravi, the administrator of iBomma, was arrested on Saturday and web logins and server details seized from him. A letter circulating on social media said that he had previously challenged the police saying, "I have data of crores of people. Stop focusing on this website".

Police first arrested some iBomma staff and then Ravi. The police are analyzing hundreds of hard disks seized from Ravi. The details of the accused's bank accounts are being examined. The police plan to take him into custody and collect more details.

Piracy has been causing damage to the film industry. Sseveral Telugu movies released this year have been pirated. The Anti-Video Piracy Cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce had filed a complaint with the city cyber crime police on August 30. The complaint stated that several movies were being pirated through 65 mirror websites like iBomma.

The police after probe had arrested five persons on September 29. The police started a manhunt for the mastermind of iBomma. Ravi, who was at his residence in Kukatpally till September 30 but disappeared from there on October 1. The police, who kept an eye on his movements, collected some key information.

It is believed that Ravi was arrested in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 3. He has been hiding in France, the Caribbean Islands, the Netherlands and other places and he kept changing his IP addresses. He reached Kukatpally from Amsterdam, confident that the police would not be able to find him. However, he was arrested soon after he arrived in the city.

Officials said, Ravi used to store his content in his servers based in the Caribbean Islands and provide the opportunity to viewers to watch it for free through websites. He would put Telugu movies, web series, as well as those released with Telugu dubbing in Tamil, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam and other languages ​​on the websites of iBomma and Bappam.

He challenged the police to stop focusing on his website. His post went viral on social media. Accepting this challenge, the police arrested him. Ravi was shifted to Basheerbagh CCS where key information was collected from him. Later, he was produced in the Nampally court. After the judge remanded him, he was shifted to Chanchalguda jail.

Meanwhile, the police have confirmed that 37 lakh people are viewing the two websites every month. Ravi has been making websites under the names of I Bomma, Bappam TV, and I Win which have emerged as platforms for pirated movies and web series for seven to eight years. It is reported that Rs 3 crore in cash, hundreds of hard disks, computers and cell phones were found in Ravi's apartment.

Ravi, a resident of Visakhapatnam, is reportedly adept at hacking any server in the world, no matter how secure it is. Having turned to piracy, he could easily hack the servers of Cloud Flare and OTT platforms that store new movies and download movies and web series in HD quality.

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