IBomma owner Ravi has been arrested in Hyderabad. He was returning from France when the Kukatpally CCS police took him into custody.
Investigators found that Ravi was operating iBomma from the Caribbean Islands.
Police have frozen Rs 3 crore from his account.
iBomma streams movies on the day of their release, which causes large scale film piracy. Several producers have filed complaints against the site for uploading films on release day.
The Telangana government has been working to reduce piracy because it causes huge losses to both big and small film producers. Many viewers have also become used to watching movies at home due to sites like iBomma.
The Telugu Film Industry lost up to Rs 22400 crore in 2023. It lost another Rs 3700 crore in 2024 despite efforts by the anti piracy cell of the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce and police teams.
A total of 37 million pirated links were found in 2024. Movies like Pushpa 2 and Game Changer suffered heavy losses.
The piracy network uses several methods including in theater camcording, hacking servers for high definition prints, offshore operations, mirror sites, and funding through online betting and gaming apps.
The Central government passed the Cinematograph Amendment Bill in 2023 to tackle piracy in the Indian film industry.
The situation can improve if audiences stop watching pirated content and wait for films to release on OTT platforms.