On Thursday, September 4, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) questioned former Indian opener Shikhar Dhawan to record his statement under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). Dhawan was probed in connection with an alleged illegal betting app-linked money laundering case. This comes after ED had questioned another former Indian player, Suresh Raina, for about eight hours in a similar case in August this year.
Dhawan and Raina are not the only celebrities that the ED has summoned in the last couple of months. In July, Bollywood actor Prakash Raj was questioned by the ED in relation to a case linked to the promotion of illegal online betting and gambling apps by several celebrities.
Betting platforms like Junglee Rummy, JeetWin, and Lotus365 had onboarded a lot of celebrities in the past through endorsement deals. These celebrities were paid endorsement or celebrity fees in connection to these deals. Dhawan had also endorsed one such application in the past and the ED questioned him regarding the fees that was paid to him.
“A preliminary probe has revealed Dhawan is linked to the app through certain endorsements and this is why he was called to join the probe. During questioning, he was asked how he was approached by the owners of a betting app and how money was paid to him,” said an ED official as quoted by The Telegraph.
Several Celebrities Are Under the Scanner Because of Endorsing Illegal Betting Apps
ED is currently probing a lot of other celebrities, including actors, cricketers, and influencers who have endorsed these illegal betting apps. These apps have been accused of duping crores of money from investors and a number of other people. There have been several cases against these applications of evading a huge amount of taxes. Most of these celebrities have claimed that they were not aware of the true nature of these applications, and the ED is examining the financial transactions made by these celebrities.
A thorough investigation has revealed that these applications have violated multiple laws in the country, including the Information Technology Act, the Foreign Exchange Management Act, the PMLA, etc.
“We have taken cognisance of as many as five state police FIRs to register its case against these actors and a number of other celebrities and social media influencers. The online platforms are alleged to have generated illicit funds, through illegal betting and gambling, worth crores of rupees,” the ED official said.
Several reports by market analysis firms and the probe agencies have revealed that a total of almost 22 crore Indian users are currently using these applications. The number of users who are regularly using these platforms is half of the total users.
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