The Telugu film industry is once again on high alert. While cybercrime police recently arrested some big names linked to online movie piracy including that of ‘The Raja Saab’, a new mystery man has grabbed everyone’s attention. His name is Naveen, or at least, that’s what investigators believe.
According to police sources, Naveen is the suspected brain behind two of the most notorious piracy websites still running strong: 5movierulz and 1tamilmv. Despite crackdowns and arrests, these sites refuse to go silent. And that’s exactly why Naveen is now being hunted.
Also Read: The Raja Saab Review: Prabhas delivers entertainment; script and forced comedy hold film back
Alarm bells ring
The panic began when ‘The Raja Saab’ one of the four big releases surfaced online within days of its theatrical release. That was enough for the Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce (TFCC) to step in. Its anti-piracy wing immediately filed complaints, pushing cybercrime police to launch a fresh crackdown.
Soon after, more shocking discoveries followed. Big-ticket films were being streamed illegally, even before their official digital releases.
Big films, bigger losses
Among the latest victims is “Raja Saab”, starring Prabhas and Sanjay Dutt, which released in theatres on Friday and was quickly found on piracy platforms. Even more worrying is “Dhurandhar”, the highest-grossing Indian film of 2025, which hasn’t even reached OTT yet, but is already available illegally.
Police say the leaked versions are mostly low-quality camcorder prints, secretly recorded inside cinema halls in north and east India. HD prints, they add, usually appear only after OTT releases.
Still, even cam prints are causing huge damage.
Who is Naveen? And where is he?
That’s the biggest question right now.
Cybercrime investigators believe Naveen could be a Tamilian operating from Sri Lanka. His Telegram chats are mostly in Tamil, mixed with some Telugu and English. Hindi? Almost never.
Digital trail analysis, including cryptocurrency payments, points towards Sri Lanka. Once, his location even showed Pakistan. But police say that was likely due to VPNs and proxy servers.
Like earlier piracy kingpin Ravi Emandi of iBomma, Naveen is believed to be making serious money by redirecting users to online betting and gambling websites.
His real identity remains unknown.
Blocking these sites has turned into a never-ending game of whack-a-mole. A TFCC representative revealed that the domains keep changing almost every week. For example: 5movierulz is currently operating on extensions like .doctor, with mirror sites such as 7movierulz (dot) cl. 1tamilmv is now active on .lc.
Because of this constant switching, tracking exact traffic is difficult. But rough numbers are still shocking.
The numbers tell a scary story
In just the first 10 days of January, 5movierulz received 18 lakh visitors via search engines. Around 80% of them were from India. 1tamilmv.lc clocked 23 lakh visitors in January so far. A massive 94% came from India
“That’s a lot of moviegoers,” the TFCC official said.
Senior police officials say they are closely monitoring piracy networks with constant inputs from the film industry. After successfully arresting operators of iBomma and 1Tamilblasters, they are confident Naveen will also be caught.