The Telangana High Court on Tuesday granted bail to Emandi Ravi, accused of operating an illegal online movie piracy website iBomma. Ravi is also facing charges of online cheating and data theft.
Justice K. Sujana of the High Court, allowing the criminal petition filed by the accused, said the petitioner was in judicial custody for over 90 days and highlighted that the chargesheet is yet to be filed. “There is no material placed before this court to show that further custodial interrogation of the petition is required,” the judge said in the order.
Referring to the apprehensions raised by the prosecution that the petitioner can influence the witnesses or tamper with the evidence, the judge noted such possibilities can be checked by imposing specific conditions. Also, substantial part of the investigation was already completed with the investigators having collected relevant material, the order said.
Ravi was accused of mainly operating and controlling certain piracy websites/domains through which he uploaded newly released films of Telugu and other languages. This resulted in infringement of the copyrights of the producers causing wrongful loss to them.
However, the charges made against the petitioner were based on the confessional statements of the co-accused in other cases, the judge said. The evidentiary value of these statements could be ascertained only during the trial, the order said.
Ravi was instructed to execute a personal bond for ₹25,000 and two sureties each of equal sum before the Ninth Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate, Hyderabad. The judge instructed him to surrender his passport of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the trial court and not leave the country without prior permission of the court.
The judge directed the petitioner not to operate, manage, administer or be associated with any website, domain, application, social media channel, or online platform involved in uploading, streaming, sharing or distributing copyrighted content without authorisation.
Published – February 17, 2026 10:07 pm IST
