Actors Vijay Deverakonda, Prakash Raj among 25 celebrities booked for promoting illegal betting apps

Hyderabad: The police here on Thursday registered a case against 25 celebrities, including Tollywood actors Vijaya Deverakonda, Prakash Raj, Rana Daggubati, Manchu Lakshmi and Nidhi Agarwal, for promoting illegal betting apps. Apart from the actors, 19 social media influencers are facing the charges in the case registered at Miyapur Police Station of Cyberabad Commissionerate. It is the first time the police have named top actors in the illegal betting app case.

According to police, the First Information Report (FIR) has been registered under sections 318 (4), 112 r/w 49 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), 3, 3 (A) and 4 of Telangana Gaming Act and 66D of Information Technology Act 2008, reported IANS.

Phanidra Sharma, a resident of Miyapur filed the complaint with the police after finding the celebrities and social media influencers actively promoting illegal betting apps, websites and other platforms. The complainant said the 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.

Ananya Nagella, Siri Hanumanthu, Sreemukhi, Varshini Sounderajan, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shoba Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Pandu, Padmavathi, Imran Khan, Vishnu Priya, Harsha Sai, Sayya Sunny Yadav, Shyamala, Tasty Teja, Rithu Chowdhary and Bandaru Sheshayani Supritha are the social media influencers named in the FIR.

A few days back, Hyderabad and Cyberabad Police registered cases against social media influencers for allegedly promoting betting apps. 

Punjagutta Police of Hyderabad on Monday booked a case against 11 social media influencers on a complaint made by one Vinay Vangala (40), a private employee, who raised concerns over mobile apps and websites promoting gambling activities in violation of the Public Gambling Act of 1867. As part of the probe, the police have issued notices to the accused named in the FIR. A few of them appeared before police.Social media influencer Vishnu Priya appeared before the investigating officer on Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (West Zone) SM Vijay Kumar said that many youths in Telangana suffered huge losses due to online betting. Upset over the losses, some of the youth died by suicide.

On March 16, Cyberabad Police booked YouTuber Harsha Sai for promoting betting apps. The case was registered after a person complained that he lost over Rs 13 lakh in betting after following the YouTuber. Police have also booked YouTuber 'Local Boy Nani' of Visakhapatnam and Bayya Sunny Yadav of Hyderabad for a similar offence.