The Enforcement Directorate has booked 29 celebrities, including Vijay Deverakonda and Rana Daggubati, in a money laundering case linked to endorsements of illegal online betting platforms
Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has filed a money laundering case to look into the role of more than 25 celebrities, including actors like Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati and Prakash Raj, apart from some social media influencers and YouTubers in Telangana as part of a money laundering probe against certain online betting platforms, official sources said on Thursday.
29 celebrities booked by ED
These outlets are alleged to have generated "illicit" funds worth crores of rupees through illegal betting and gambling, the sources said. The federal probe agency has taken cognisance of as many as five state police FIRs to book its case under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.
About 29 celebrities, including Deverakonda, Daggubati, Manchu Lakshmi, Raj, Nidhi Agarwal, Pranitha Subhash, Ananya Nagalla, TV host Srimukhi apart from local social media influencers and YouTubers have been booked in the ED case. These celebrities are suspected to have "endorsed" online betting apps like Junglee Rummy, JeetWin, Lotus365 etc. in lieu of getting celebrity or endorsement fee, the sources said.
Some of these "well known" persons, the sources said, have earlier stated that they did not know the exact functioning of the apps and products dished out by them and claimed they did not associate themselves with these platforms for any wrongdoing or illegal activity like betting.
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.
Vijay Deverakonda's past brush with law
Meanwhile, last month, a case was filed against the actor under the SC/ST Act. The complaint, lodged by Nenavath Ashok Kumar Naik, the State President of the Joint Action Committee of Tribal Communities, claims that Deverakonda's comments during a pre-release event for the movie 'Retro' were offensive and insulted the tribal community. The case has been registered at the Raidurgam Police Station in Cyberabad, and an investigation is underway.
The actor had attended the pre-release event of the Tamil film Retro starring Suriya as a guest. At the event, while addressing the Pahalgam terror attack, Deverakonda had said, "The solution to what is happening in Kashmir is also to educate them (terrorists) and ensure they don’t get brainwashed. What will they achieve? Kashmir belongs to India, and Kashmiris are ours. India doesn’t even need to attack Pakistan because Pakistanis themselves are fed up with their government and will attack them if this continues. Asalu 500 years back tribals kokkutunnatu, veelu buddi lekunda, minimum common sense lekunda chese panulu.” (They behave like tribals did 500 years ago, fighting without common sense).
Following a backlash for his comment, the actor issued a statement through social media to apologise.
(with inputs from PTI)
Subscribe today by clicking the link and stay updated with the latest news!" Click here!
