Actress Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber Police for questioning in connection with the illegal streaming of Indian Premier League (IPL) matches on the FairPlay application, which she and other actors allegedly promoted. According to officials, Bhatia and some other actors allegedly promoted viewing of the IPL matches on FairPlay. They have also been alleged of accepting bets on gaming applications linked to IPL matches. The Fairplay app is allegedly connected to the Mahadev Open Book (MOB) platform.
The Maharashtra Cyber Police will record Bhatia’s statement as a witness in the case. They promoted and endorsed the application, which had illegally put up hoardings across the city advertising the live telecast of IPL 2023, without obtaining any permissions from Viacom 18, which holds the exclusive rights to broadcast the cricket tournament, said officials. “We have summoned the actress on April 29th,” said a Maharashtra Cyber Police official investigating the case.
A case has been registered after a complaint lodged by Viacom 18. In the first information report, the broadcasting company claimed that it lost around ₹ 100 crore due to illegal broadcast of the IPL matches. Viacom 18’s anti-piracy team found that from March 31st, 2023 to April 7th, 2023, the Fairplay app had also illegally shown Tata IPL matches live.
The primary investigation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED), which is probing the Mahadev betting app case, revealed that promoters linked with the MOB platform used funds from various shell companies to pay Bollywood celebrities to promote and endorse their apps. The agency has claimed that more than 40 celebrities were under scrutiny for promoting FairPlay during the IPL 2023 season. Earlier this week, actor Sanjay Dutt was also summoned in connection with the case. The agency has also recorded statements of people linked to actors Dutt, Jacqueline Fernandez, and rapper Badshah, who have been alleged to promoting the betting app and urging viewers to tune in on the application to watch the cricket matches.
