Actress Tamannaah Bhatia faces summons in connection with promoting illegal IPL streaming app, along with other celebrities, amid ongoing investigation into online betting controversy.
Tamannaah Bhatia
Actress Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell regarding her involvement in promoting a subsidiary app of the Mahadev online gaming and betting platform. This comes in the wake of reports linking Tamannaah to the illegal streaming of IPL 2023 matches on the FairPlay app, causing significant financial losses to Viacom. The summons requires her presence before the Cyber Cell on April 29th for questioning.
Veteran actor Sanjay Dutt was also summoned earlier in connection with the same case, but he requested a later date for providing his statement, citing being out of the country at the time of the summons. Both actors are allegedly implicated in endorsing the betting exchange platform.
Following the FIR, several other celebrities, including Badshah and Jacqueline Fernandez, were also called in for questioning regarding their involvement in the case.
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FairPlay, a subsidiary app of Mahadev, facilitates illegal betting on various live games, with cricket being the most popular among users, followed by football and tennis. The app allows users to gamble on sports and entertainment events, providing live streams of matches for convenience.
The legal trouble arose for Tamannaah when Viacom18 complained that FairPlay was illegally streaming IPL matches, resulting in a substantial financial loss exceeding Rs 100 crore for the company. Viacom18 holds the Intellectual Property Rights for streaming IPL matches, making the unauthorized streaming by FairPlay a violation of these rights.
Earlier this year, the Enforcement Directorate made its ninth arrest in connection with the investigation into the money laundering case related to the alleged illegal activities of the app. The investigation suggests the involvement of politicians and bureaucrats from Chhattisgarh in the case.
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