The Enforcement Directorate has reportedly filed a case against Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda, and 26 others for allegedly promoting illegal betting apps, as per The Hindu report.
The federal agency has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in breach of the Public Gambling Act, 1867. The individuals are accused of receiving payments in exchange for promoting the betting apps.
The ECIR relates to the endorsement of online betting platforms like Junglee Rummy, A23, JeetWin, Parimatch, and Lotus365.These apps masqueraded as skill-based games but allegedly facilitated gambling. Currently, the platforms are under suspicion for their role in money laundering operations.
The actors mentioned in the report include Manchu Lakshmi, Praneetha, and Nidhi Agarwal; TV and media personalities such as Ananya Nagella, Siri Hanumanthu, Sreemukhi, Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padhmavathi, Imran Khan, Vishnu Priya, and Shyamala, the report said.
Some digital content creators such as Harsha Sai, Bayya Sunny Yadav, Tastyteja, Rithu Chowdhary, Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha, Ajay, Sunny, and Sudheer are also there. In addition, the management teams behind the betting platforms and Kiran Goud have also been named, the report added.
ED's Crackdown on Betting Apps
Earlier this week, the federal agency also carried out searches at four locations linked to opinion trading platform Probo. The searches were a part of ED's investigation into alleged illegal betting and gambling activities across the country.
The raids targeted properties associated with Probo’s cofounders, Sachin Gupta and Ashish Garg, under provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.
The operation led to the seizure of several incriminating documents and digital evidence. In addition, the agency froze assets worth ₹284.5 crore, including fixed deposits, shares, and three bank lockers.
Before this, former cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh, and Suresh Raina, along with actors Sonu Sood and Urvashi Rautela, were also questioned by the ED last month in connection with the promotion of banned betting platforms such as 1xBet, FairPlay, Parimatch, and Lotus365.
Last year, the federal agency also uncovered a money laundering operation linked to illegal gaming and betting apps via Kirana stores. The Kirana store owners were reportedly unaware of their involvement in illegal gambling activities and believed that they worked under the RBI's domestic money transfer (DMT).
