Case against 29 celebrities

A key development has taken place in Telangana regarding the advertisements and promotions of banned online betting apps. While the Cyberabad police have already started an investigation into the matter, now the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has stepped in. The ED has registered cases against a total of 29 people, including film actors, anchors and social media influencers.

These cases have been registered under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) based on FIRs filed by the Cyberabad and Hyderabad police. The ED has registered the cases on the allegations that they received huge remuneration for promoting banned betting apps and did not show the amount in their income tax returns.

The names of Rana Daggubati, Vijay Deverakonda, Manchu Lakshmi, Prakash Raj, Nidhi Agarwal, Praneetha, Ananya Nagella, Srimukhi, Shyamala, Ritu Chowdhury, Vishnu Priya, Varshini, Siri Hanumanthu, Shobha Shetty, Amrutha Chowdhury, Tasty Teja and others have been named in the case registered by the ED. The videos promoted by all of them went viral on social media, introducing lakhs of people to the apps.

The police said that by promoting banned betting apps, people were encouraged. The youth got addicted to these apps and got into debt. Many committed suicide. There are allegations that the companies operating the apps paid huge amounts as commission.

The names of banned apps in this case include 'Jungle Rummy, A23, Yolo 247, Fair Play, Vibook, Dhanibook 365, Andhra365, Taj777book, Parimatch'.