Corrupt fellow holding record on river (7)

I believe the answer is:

deprave

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'corrupt fellow' is the definition.
'deprave' can be an answer for 'corrupt' (synonyms). I'm unsure of the 'fellow' bit.

'record on river' is the wordplay.
'record' becomes 'EP' (abbreviation for extended play record).
'on' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'river' becomes 'drave' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'ep' going inside 'drave' is 'DEPRAVE'.

'holding' is the link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for deprave that I've seen before include "Pervade (anag.)" , "Make corrupt" .)

I've seen this clue in The Times.

Want a hint initially instead of a full solution? Install my app