Rana Daggubati fails to appear before ED in online betting case; issued fresh summons for August 11

The sources said the 40-year-old sought deferment of the summons and Daggubati has now been asked to depose on August 11, they said.

The Enforcement Directorate has given a fresh date of August 11 to actor Rana Daggubati after he failed to appear on Wednesday for questioning in a money laundering case linked to illegal online betting and gambling by certain platforms, official sources.

The sources said the 40-year-old sought deferment of the summons and Daggubati has now been asked to depose on August 11, they said. The federal probe agency had last week issued summons to four actors to appear on different dates at the agency’s zonal office here for questioning in the case.

Apart from Daggubati, actor Prakash Raj (60) was summoned to appear on July 30, Vijay Deverakonda (36) on August 6 and Lakshmi Manchu (47) on August 13, the sources had said.

A total of 28 actors, celebrities, social media influencers and the management personnel of these apps have been booked by the ED as part of this money laundering investigation.

The actors are being probed for "promoting" the online betting apps that are allegedly involved in generating "illicit" funds. Once they appear, the agency will record their statements under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), they said.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has taken cognisance of as many as five Telangana police FIRs to register its case against these actors and a number of other celebrities and social media influencers. These individuals are suspected to have "endorsed" online betting apps like Junglee Rummy, JeetWin, Lotus365, etc, for celebrity or endorsement fee, according to ED sources.

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These platforms are alleged to have generated "illicit" funds, through illegal betting and gambling, worth crores of rupees, the sources said. Some of these ”well-known” persons, the sources said, have earlier stated that they did not know the exact functioning of the apps and products dished out by them and claimed they did not associate themselves with these platforms for any wrongdoing or illegal activity like betting.