Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, Nidhhi Agerwal Among 29 Tollywood Celebs Booked In Betting App Scam

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has registered a case against 29 celebrities, including Vijay Deverakonda, Rana Daggubati, Manchu Lakshmi, Prakash Raj, Nidhi Agarwal, Ananya Nagalla, and Srimukhi, for their alleged involvement in a betting app scam. ED's case is based on an FIR filed by the Hyderabad Cyberabad police. The ED is investigating their involvement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The FIR also accuses celebrities of accepting large payments to promote these apps, influencing the public—especially those already struggling financially—to invest, leading to addiction and severe financial losses.

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The FIRs have been filed under Sections 318(4), 112, and 49 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), Sections 3, 3A, and 4 of the Telangana Gaming Act, and Section 66D of the IT Act, 2000 (amended 2008), according to reports. These charges cover digital cheating, unlawful promotion of gambling platforms and misleading users through electronic means. Authorities claim that several victims of these apps acquired huge debts, with some cases tragically ending in suicide.

The list of celebs booked in the betting app scam includes popular Telugu TV personalities and content creators like Varshini Sounderajan, Siri Hanumanth, Vasanthi Krishnan, Shobha Shetty, Amrutha Chowdary, Nayani Pavani, Neha Pathan, Imran Khan, Padmavati, Pandu, Vishnu Priya, Harsha Sai, Bhayya Sunny Yadav, Tasty Teja, Ritu Chowdary and Bandaru Supreetha, reported 123Telugu. Police allege that these individuals endorsed and circulated links to illegal betting apps in exchange for high profit share.

The cases agianst individuals have been registered across Hyderabad, Cyberabad, Visakhapatnam, and Suryapet and the authorities have begun tracing the financial transactions involved.