Tamannaah Bhatia summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell in illegal IPL streaming case

Bollywood Update:  Actress Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned by Maharashtra Cyber Wing in an illegal IPL streaming case on 29 April. She allegedly prompted the ‘stream and win’ betting app Fairplay, a subsidiary of Mahadev Online Gaming and betting application. 

Tamannaah Bhatia in illegal IPL streaming case  

The ‘Bahubali’ famed actress has been summoned for questioning, and recording her statement about her allegedly promoting illegal streaming of Indian Premier League matches on the Fairplay app. The summon is for the next week where she will elaborate upon her involvement in the year-long case of illegal IPL streaming lodged by the Viacom 18 group. 

In 2023, the Viacom 18 group lodged an FIR against Fairplay betting app allegeding it for illegally streaming IPL matches on the app. Several bollywood actors have promoted the app, leading to a loss of crores for Viacom. 

Viacom 18 claims a loss of around 100 crore with the illegal streaming of the games on the app without acquiring the streaming rights from the group. Fairplay has been alleged to make monetary benefits by using exclusive content of Viacom 18. 

Sanjay Dutt asks for a new summon date  

The case has been going on for almost a year now with prominent Bollywood personalities summoned to record their statements. Bollywood rapper Badshah has also recorded his statements along with managers of Sanjay Dutt and Jacqueline Fernandez, who too were called by the cyber cell. 

According to the reports, Sanjay Dutt has also been probed in the case, with a questioning summons to his name. However, due to his busy schedule, the actress has been unable to appear asking for a new date for the same. 

Last year the app made headlines when the ED summoned Ranbir Kapoor and Shraddha Kapoor in the case. 

Fairplay is a sister app of Mahadev online gaming app, a platform for illegal betting over games like cricket and Poker. It is operated by Saurabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal from Dubai, while they both hail from Chhattisgarh. It caught the eye of ED when a wedding worth Rs. 200 crore was paid all in cash in UAE, last year in February.