Fact Check: iBomma’s Immadhi Ravi gives live hacking demo to judge in court? No, video is AI-generated
A video claiming to show the alleged movie piracy network iBomma’s administrator, Immadhi Ravi, demonstrating a hacking process to a judge inside a courtroom is going viral.
By - M Ramesh Naik
Claim:The video shows iBomma’s Immadhi Ravi explaining a hacking process to a judge in court after his arrest.
Fact:The claim is false. The video is AI-generated. The content creator who made the video confirmed to NewsMeter about the video’s origin.
Hyderabad: The police custody of Immadhi Ravi, the alleged mastermind and administrator of the iBomma movie-piracy network, ended on Monday.
What is the iBomma case?
According to investigators, Ravi created a nationwide network of agents and used foreign servers and offshore payment channels to distribute pirated films and hide financial trails. Officials suspect he earned crores through the digital piracy network iBomma.
Amid this backdrop, a video began circulating on Instagram and other platforms. In the clip, a man, claimed to be iBomma’s Ravi, is seen standing inside a courtroom, typing on a laptop while explaining a ‘hacking process’ to a judge. The man is also shown wearing a VR headset during the purported demonstration.
An Instagram account called ‘su8tvchannel’ shared it with the caption, “A video of iBomma’s Immadhi Ravi showing a live hawking demo wearing a VR headset at the court is going viral on social media. Ravi is clearly seen standing on the stand, typing on a laptop, and showing his hack proof in front of the judge. This shocking clip, captured by phone footage from the audience outside, is being widely shared on social media.” (Translated from Telugu) (Archive)
Similar viral posts can be seen here, here and here.
Fact Check
NewsMeter found that the claim is false. The video is AI-generated.
Inconsistencies in the visuals
We observed the visuals carefully, and several inconsistencies stood out.
The courtroom: In the background, a police officer can be seen standing next to the judge, but the uniform does not resemble that of the Telangana Police. The courtroom itself appears generic and staged, and not consistent with Indian court settings.
Immadhi Ravi’s appearance: The man in the video, alleged to be Immadhi Ravi, is seen with a full beard. However, images and videos recorded at the time of his arrest show Ravi without a beard. The VR headset used in the video also appears unusual and digitally distorted at certain frames.
Technical analysis of the video
To verify whether the visuals were manipulated, NewsMeter analysed the clip using Deepfake-O-Meter, an AI detection tool. Four of its detectors flagged the video as AI-generated, with confidence scores of 99.9%, 98.7%, 99.9% and 98.6%.
Source of the video
To trace the origin of the footage, we performed a Google reverse image search of a keyframe from the viral clip. This led us to the Instagram profile @prajayhoney, where the same video was uploaded on November 23, garnering more than 6.9 million views and hundreds of comments. We also found that most of the AI posts were shared with the #RealFootage.
We also found additional AI-crafted videos on his profile that similarly depict fictional scenes of “iBomma Ravi inside jail.”
When we contacted the content creator, Prajay Honey, he confirmed that he created the video using AI tools. He said, “Yes, the video was created using AI tools and shared from my profile. There was no intention to harm or mislead anyone. If there is any specific legal concern, please let me know. I am ready to cooperate.”
Prajay also stated that he works with a Vizag-based startup developing AI tools. He explained that the audio in the clip was generated using Kits AI, then mixed and enhanced with additional sound effects to make it feel realistic, citing his background as a professional sound engineer.
Disclaimer posted by content creator
Regarding how the videos are created, he shared a clarification as an Instagram story: “All the visuals you see here are Al-crafted by me. I’m exploring the future of creativity - and bringing you the most unique footages. Stay with me... big things are coming. (sic)”
