Rana Daggubati to depose before ED tomorrow

Hyderabad: Ina major crackdown in the illegal betting app scam, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Monday summoned actors Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Vijay Deverakonda and Manchu Lakshmi for allegedly promoting betting apps across social media platforms. They have been asked to depose on separate dates.

Daggubati has been asked to appear before the ED on July 23, followed by Prakash Raj on July 30, Deverakonda (August 6) and Lakshmi (August 13). The ED has booked cases against 29 film and TV personalities under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and launched an investigation into how huge revenue is generated through illegal betting and gambling platforms.

Official sources said that the celebrities endorsed platforms like Junglee Rummy, JeetWin and Lotus365 in return for promotional fees, without verifying the legal status of those apps. Based on FIRs filed by Telangana and Andhra Pradesh police against them, the ED launched a probe into the alleged money transactions and hawala transfers from the promoters of the betting apps to the accounts of the celebrities. Police booked cases under relevant sections of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the Telangana Gaming Act (2017) – which bans all forms of online betting – and the IT Act.

The agency officials will record the statements of the four celebrities during interrogations revolving around possible money laundering.

It should be noted that some film personalities have already made statements that they were not aware of the legality of running the betting apps until the police booked cases against them. The ED officials will analyse the contracts signed by the celebrities during the investigation. The probe will focus on tracing the proceeds of crime and the extent of the money that may have been laundered through promotional deals, sources said.

The other celebrities whose names figured in the betting app scam include, Pranitha Subhash, Nidhhi Agerwal, Ananya Nagalla, Siri Hanumanth, Sreemukhi, Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shobha Shetty, Amrutha Chowdhary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padmavati, Imran Khan, Vishnu Priya, Harsha Sai, Bhaiyya Sunny Yadav, Shyamala, Tasty Teja, Reethu Chowdhary and Bandaru Seshayani Supreetha.