Actress Tamannaah Bhatia arrived for questioning in Guwahati before the ED on Thursday over alleged promotion of the online platform for viewing IPL matches streaming illicitly. The said online is believed to be an affiliate of Mahadev app for online gaming and betting.
Tamannaah, accompanied by her mother, was brought to the ED office around 1:30 PM and was still under question at the time of this report. She was summoned for her involvement in the promotion of IPL viewing on the FairPlay betting app, which is a subsidiary of Mahadev.
FairPlay provides betting possibilities in the large variety of sports and entertainment events, while Mahadev is notorious for tolerating illegal betting on games such as cricket, poker, tennis, and football.
The Mahadev betting app garnered much attention last year when the ED summoned Bollywood stars Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor, who were also featured in the promotional advertisements of the app. Several other such personalities from Bollywood have come under the radar of the ED following a larger investigation into illegal gaming and betting platforms.
In September 2023, News18 had reported that nearly 17 Bollywood celebrities were under the scanner in some connection with this scam. In April 2024, the special investigation team of the Mumbai Cyber Cell could catch Sahil Khan from Chhattisgarh as the Bombay High Court dismissed his plea for pre-arrest bail. Khan claimed he was only a brand promoter for Isports247 and had no immediate link with any form of betting activities.
The ED called up Shraddha Kapoor and Ranbir Kapoor for questioning in October 2023. It also summoned comedian Kapil Sharma after he appeared on a program run by the app’s founder, Saurabh Chandrakar. Actresses Huma Qureshi and Hina Khan have also been summoned for promoting the service, as investigators believe the fee received by them is proceeds from criminal activities.
