Ravi reportedly told investigators that he wanted to start a business to make money and chose piracy as it involved no competition. Police said he has been giving inconsistent answers during questioning on the second day of his custody on Friday.

Investigators said Ravi has been offering new explanations frequently and attempting to portray himself as innocent. Police believe he pirated and uploaded around 21,000 films over six years on the iBomma and Bappam TV web portals, a finding confirmed during the investigation.

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Police said Ravi was fully aware that piracy is an offence under law and adopted measures to avoid detection. He allegedly created a fictitious identity under the name Prahlad Kumar and obtained a PAN card and web portals in that name. Financial transactions were carried out using the digital signature of a friend, Prasad, police said.

Investigators said Ravi prepared documents in advance to project himself as only a nominal figure. After Telugu film producers filed a complaint with the city cyber crime police, he reportedly became cautious and planned to permanently relocate to Caribbean islands.

Police said Ravi was arrested when he returned to sell his house in Kukatpally and leave the country. During questioning, he has often responded with "I don't remember" or "I cannot say now," sources said.

Police believe Ravi is changing his statements out of fear that he may not secure bail if sent to jail. When confronted with technical evidence collected so far, he reportedly remained silent.

Investigators said that during earlier custody, the iBomma and Bappam TV web portals were taken down from the internet with Ravi's involvement. Data stored on cloud servers was also deleted by him. Police said Ravi failed to explain how he knew the passwords if he had no connection with the portals.