Connect with us
Tuesday,18-November-2025
Breaking News

Crime

ED books 29 celebrities for endorsing betting apps

Published

on

Hyderabad, July 10: The Enforcement Directorate has booked 29 celebrities in Telugu states for endorsing betting apps.

The central agency has filed an ECIR against 29 actors, influencers, and YouTubers for allegedly promoting illegal betting platforms, in violation of the Public Gambling Act, 1867.

The probe, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, has been taken up based on five FIRs filed in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh.

Film actors Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj, Nidhi Agarwal, Pranitha Subhash and Manchu Lakshmi, and Ananya Nagella are among those who have been booked by the ED.

The names of TV actors, TV hosts and social media influencers like Sreemukhi, Shyamala, and Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padhmavathi, Harsha Sai and Bayya Sunny Yadav also figure in the list.

Most of these celebrities were earlier booked by the Hyderabad and Cyberabad Police. FIRs were registered against them at Panjagutta, Miyapur, Cyberabad, Suryapet, and Visakhapatnam police stations.

The ED suspects endorsements of platforms like Junglee Rummy, A23, JeetWin, Parimatch, Lotus365, and others involved laundering of large sums through paid promotions.

The ECIR has been booked under BNS sections 318 (4), 112 r/w 49, Telangana Gaming Act sections 3, 3 (A), 4, IT Act 2000 and 2008 section 66D.

In March, Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, Prakash Raj and others were booked by Cyberabad police for allegedly promoting betting apps. They, however, clarified that they are not promoting any illegal app.

While Rana Daggubati and Vijay Devarakonda stated that they endorsed only legally permitted online skill-based games, Prakash Raj said he did not renew a contract to promote an app in 2017 after realising that he should not have done it.

A case against six actors and 19 social media influencers was registered at the Miyapur Police Station of Cyberabad Commissionerate in March.

The police registered the case on a complaint by one Phanidra Sharma, a resident of Miyapur, who stated that he found several celebrities and social media influencers actively promoting illegal betting apps, websites and other platforms. The complainant said promotion of betting apps was causing harm to individuals and society by encouraging this addictive, short-term, risky money-making behaviour, leading to financial distress.

Crime

Delhi blast: Court sends Umar Muhammad’s aide Jasir Bilal Wani to 10-day NIA custody

Published

on

New Delhi, Nov 18: The Patiala House Court on Tuesday sent bomber Dr Umar Muhammad’s aide, Jasir Bilal Wani, alias Danish, to 10 days of NIA custody.

Earlier in the day, the NIA produced Wani before the court in connection with the Delhi blast that claimed 13 lives. On Monday, the agency arrested Wani, another key associate who had allegedly provided technical support to the terrorists involved in the explosion.

Wani, a resident of Kashmir, was arrested by the NIA from Srinagar. According to the agency, investigations revealed that he had allegedly provided technical assistance for carrying out terror attacks. He was reportedly involved in modifying drones and attempting to develop rockets ahead of the deadly car bomb blast.

The accused, a resident of Qazigund in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, was said to be an active co-conspirator in the attack. He had worked closely with the terrorist Dr Umar Muhammad Nabi to plan and execute the act of terror.

The NIA continues to probe multiple angles to uncover the full conspiracy behind the bombing. Several teams from the anti-terror agency are pursuing various leads and conducting searches across multiple states in an effort to identify every individual involved in the attack.

Earlier on Monday, a Delhi court also sent Aamir Rashid Ali, a Kashmiri resident accused of conspiring with Muhammad, to 10 days of NIA custody. Ali, in whose name the car used in the blast was registered, was arrested on November 16. He was apprehended in Delhi during a large-scale search operation launched after the NIA took over the case from the Delhi Police, an official said in a statement.

According to the NIA’s findings, Ali, a resident of Samboora in Pampore, Jammu and Kashmir, had allegedly conspired with suicide attacker Umar Nabi to execute the terror strike. The agency stated that Ali had travelled to Delhi to help purchase the car later used as a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device (IED) to carry out the blast.

Continue Reading

Crime

SC issues notice on PIL seeking probe into alleged bank fraud by Anil Ambani-led RCOM

Published

on

New Delhi, Nov 18: The Supreme Court on Tuesday issued notices to the Union government, Anil Ambani, and Reliance Communications Ltd. (RCOM) on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) seeking a court-monitored probe into an alleged “large-scale, organised bank fraud” perpetrated by the company and its group entities.

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) B.R. Gavai and comprising Justice K Vinod Chandran sought responses from all respondents within three weeks.

The plea seeks the constitution of a Special Investigation Team (SIT) comprising officers from the CBI and Enforcement Directorate (ED), contending that only a judicially supervised probe can ensure a “comprehensive, coordinated, and transparent investigation” into the alleged offences.

As per the PIL, the FIR registered by the CBI in August this year covers only a fraction of the financial irregularities despite extensive material pointing to diversion of funds, round-tripping, fictitious transactions, and systematic misuse of bank loans by RCOM and its group companies.

The plea alleged that the State Bank of India (SBI), the lead lender in a consortium that extended Rs. 31,580 crore between 2013 and 2017 waited five years to lodge an FIR despite being in possession of a detailed forensic audit report since 2020.

“Despite being in possession of the 2020 Forensic Audit Report, based on which the complaint was filed which contains detailed issues regarding diversion, evergreening, fictitious transactions, and use of shell entities, the bank chose to take no statutory action until August 2025, a delay that cannot be explained without examining whether officers acted in collusion or with deliberate intent to shield the borrower group,” the plea stated.

“The five-year delay in filing the FIR by the bank clearly indicates involvement of bank officials and other public servants whose conduct enabled, concealed, or facilitated the fraud,” it added.

The petition, relying on multiple materials, including, SBI and RBI forensic audits, the Grant Thornton CIRP report, technical analyses, news investigations, and the Cobrapost report, argued that the ADA Group engaged in a “sustained, organised and coordinated scheme” to siphon public money.

“These reports uniformly demonstrate diversion of funds, round-tripping, misuse of external borrowings, fabrication of accounting entries, and operation of shell entities,” the plea alleged.

It further stated that suspected shell companies such as Netizen Engineering Pvt Ltd and Kunj Bihari Developers Pvt Ltd “were found to be non-existent at their registered addresses”, demonstrating a deliberate corporate structure created to siphon and launder public funds.

Despite searches at over 35 locations and alleged frauds aggregating to more than Rs. 20,000 crore, the PIL stated that “no arrests have been made, no assets have been seized, and no accounts have been frozen.”

“This indicates difficulty on part of the investigating agencies and necessitates judicial supervision,” the plea contended, adding that a fraud of such magnitude “involving public money and public institutions cannot be investigated in a piecemeal manner.”

The PIL also sought the constitution of an expert committee under the supervision of the Supreme Court to recommend structural reforms in banking and regulatory oversight.

Continue Reading

Crime

Mumbai: Police Arrest 34-Year-Old Man For Harassing 24-Yr-Old Female Doctor At Mulund Railway Station

Published

on

Mumbai: The Kurla Government Railway Police (GRP) arrested a 34-year-old man for allegedly sexually harassing a female doctor at Mulund railway station.

The incident occurred on November 15. He has been remanded in police custody for two days by a magistrate court.

According to the GRP, the complainant is a 24-year-old homeopathy doctor, resides in Dadar West. On November 15, between 1 am and 1.10 am, she was waiting on platform number 2 of Mulund railway station for a train when the incident took place. The accused, Mahesh Pakhre, allegedly stalked her and kept staring at her. He also flashed her. The woman raised an alarm, following which the police caught hold of Pakhre.

She later filed a complaint with the Kurla GRP. Following this, the Kurla GRP registered a case against him under Section 74 (criminal assault or use of criminal force against a woman with the intent or knowledge that it is likely to outrage her modesty) and Section 75(1)(iii) (sexual harassment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. 

Pakhre works as a share market trader and resides in the Rabale area of Navi Mumbai.

Continue Reading

Trending