ED Books Rana Daggubati, Vijay Deverakonda, 27 Others For Promoting Illegal Betting

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has reportedly filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against actors Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda and 26 others for allegedly promoting illegal betting apps.

The 29 people against whom the ECIR has been filed for promoting illegal betting apps in breach of the Public Gambling Act, 1867 include actors, anchors and social media influencers, The Hindu reported.

The ECIR pertains to paid promotions of betting platforms, such as Junglee Rummy, A23, JeetWin, Parimatch, Lotus365, among others, which are suspected to be involved in large-scale money laundering. The individuals named in the report allegedly received significant financial compensation for endorsing these platforms.

Most of these platforms masqueraded as skill-based games but allegedly facilitated gambling, the report said.

The ED’s action is based on five FIRs registered in multiple cities of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. Notably, an ECIR is filed by the ED under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to initiate investigations.

The ECIR has also named actors 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.

Among digital creators, Harsha Sai, Bayya Sunny Yadav, Tastyteja, Rithu Chowdhary, Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha, Ajay, Sunny, Sudheer and a YouTube channel ‘‘Local Boy Nani’ have been named.

Besides, Kiran Goud and the management teams behind the betting platforms have also been named.

The development comes at a time when the ED seems to have stepped up its actions against illegal betting activities in the country to crack down on money laundering.

Earlier this week, the agency conducted search operations at four premises linked to opinion trading platform Probo in connection with the company’s alleged illegal gambling/ betting activities across India.

The searches were also conducted at premises connected with Probo’s cofounders, Sachin Gupta and Ashish Garg, under relevant sections of the PMLA, 2002. The ED said that various incriminating documents and “digital data” were seized during the searches.

It froze assets, including fixed deposits and shares, totalling INR 284.5 Cr, as well as three bank lockers.

A month ago, former cricketers Harbhajan Singh, Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina, along with actors Sonu Sood and Urvashi Rautela, were questioned by the ED in an ongoing probe into promotion of banned betting platforms, including 1xBet, FairPlay, Parimatch and Lotus365.

It is pertinent to mention that a number of pleas have been filed in courts by the general public to draw attention to the impact of betting on individuals, especially youngsters.

A few months ago, a plea was filed by K A Paul alleging that online betting apps that are being promoted by several influencers, actors and cricketers are drawing children to betting, as per a PTI report. Paul also claimed that an FIR was also lodged in Telangana against the influencers as the issue violated fundamental rights.

A bench of justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh issued a notice to the Centre on the basis of the pleathat argued that many children committed suicide after getting involved in online betting and gambling through apps.

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