New Delhi: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) Monday issued summons to four actors asking them to appear in connection with a probe into alleged money laundering related to betting platforms, sources in the agency told ThePrint.
Agency officials said that the actors—Rana Daggubati, Vijay Deverakonda, Prakash Raj and Lakshmi Manchu—were asked to appear and record their statements over the next few weeks.
Daggubati has been asked to appear 23 July, while Prakash Raj was told to come for questioning 30 July. Deverakonda was instructed to depose on 6 August.
The development comes weeks after the federal probe agency lodged an Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) against 29 actors, celebrities and social media influencers.
In July second week, ThePrint reported how these celebrities came under the scanner of probe agencies, including Telangana and Andhra Pradesh police, for promoting betting applications.
The ED’s case is based on five FIRs registered by Andhra and Telangana Police.
Apart from the four actors, the ED also named prominent celebrities such as actors Praneetha and Nidhi Agarwal in the case.
Several media and TV 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 have also been booked by the agency.
In addition to these celebrities, social media influencers Harsha Sai, Bayya Sunny Yadav, Tastyteja, Rithu Chowdhary, Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha, Ajay, Sunny, Sudheer, and the YouTube channel ‘Local Boy Nani’ have also been named in the ECIR.
Sources in the ED confirmed that a money laundering case has been launched after complaints against promoters and directors of platforms such as JeetWin, Parimatch, Lotus365, Junglee Rummy and A23 and others of large scale siphoning of funds deposited by regular users.
The move coincides with similar action against compliance officers of social media giants Google and Meta. These firms have been accused of facilitating platforms for betting applications leading to crores of loss to Indian users. They were asked to appear Monday, but have been reissued summons for next Monday.
(Edited by Tony Rai)