Actor Tamannaah Bhatia And Singer Badshah Summoned In Illegal IPL Streaming Case (image-Instagram/tamannaahspeaks & X/Its_Badshah)
Actor Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned in relation to the 2023 case of promoting illegal streaming of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches on the Fairplay App, a subsidiary app of the Mahadev betting app scam.
Bhatia has been summoned as a witness by the Maharashtra cyber cell for allegedly promoting the illegal streaming of matches on the Fairplay App, which caused a loss of crores of rupees to Viacom. The actor has been asked to appear before the Maharashtra cyber cell on April 29.
Apart from Bhatia, singer and rapper Badshah has also been summoned as a witness in the case.
Actor Sanjay Dutt has also been summoned in connection with the case on April 23. However, we failed to appear as he was, reportedly, not in India at the time. Dutt has requested a date and time for recording his statement.
According to News 18, more than 20 influencers who have promoted the app are likely to be summoned for questioning soon.
A betting exchange platform, Fairplay offers sports and entertainment leisure gambling for games like cricket, poker, football, badminton, tennis, and more. The app, a subsidiary of the Mahadev online gaming app, is also used for live streaming of all sports matches for the players to “watch and win at the same time,” states their website.
The case came to light in September 2023 when, despite acquiring the rights to stream the matches, the app reportedly broadcast them “illegally,” which resulted in losses exceeding Rs 100 crore, according to reports. An employee of the Fairplay app was also arrested around the same time.
Earlier, several actors, including Ranbir Kapoor, Shraddha Kapoor, Huma Qureshi, Hina Khan, and comedian Kapil Sharma, were summoned by the ED in relation to the Mahadev betting app scam. Operating from Dubai, the Mahadev Betting app allegedly used the online book betting application to enrol new users, make user IDs, and launder money through numerous Benami bank accounts, stated officials from ED. No celebrities have been named as accused in the case so far.
