The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed an ECIR against 29 celebrities, including Vijay Deverakonda and Rana Daggubati, for endorsing illicit online betting services.
Actors Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, and a number of social media influencers are among the 29 celebrities against whom the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) for allegedly endorsing illicit online betting services. The move has sent shockwaves through the entertainment industry, with several big names now under the agency’s radar.
Prominent individuals including Nidhi Agarwal, Pranitha Subhash, Manchu Lakshmi, and two TV presenters are named by the ECIR. According to reports, ED is also looking into influencers like Harsha Sai and the founders of the "Local Boi Nani" channel.
The names of TV actors, TV hosts and social media influencers like Sreemukhi, Shyamala, and Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padhmavathi, Harsha Sai and Bayya Sunny Yadav also figure in the list.
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The ED is expected to record their statements in the coming days even as it is collecting more FIRs and looking for more complainants who were duped or cheated by these betting platforms.
Support for websites such as Junglee Rummy, A23, JeetWin, Parimatch, Lotus365, and others is suspected by the ED of including the laundering of substantial quantities of money through sponsored promotions.
A comprehensive investigation is underway to find the estimated amount of the "proceeds of crime" generated by these apps and the exact role of the celebrities. Their guilt will be decided following recording of their statements and version, the sources said.
According to BNS sections 318(4), 112 r/w 49, Telangana Gaming Act sections 3, 3 (A), 4, IT Act 2000, and 2008 section 66D, the ECIR has been booked.
Investigators believe that these endorsement efforts may have been used to launder money since they channelled enormous quantities of money.
The police registered the case on a complaint by one Phanidra Sharma, a resident of Miyapur, who stated that he found several celebrities and social media influencers actively promoting illegal betting apps, websites and other platforms. The complainant claimed that by promoting this addictive, transient, dangerous money-making habit, which results in financial suffering, the advertising of betting applications was harming both people and society.
