The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has questioned film actress Mallika Sherawat and TV actress Pooja Banerjee in a case related to the Magic Win gambling app. It is not known when the inquiry took place, but it was revealed on Thursday.
Both the actresses were involved in the promotion of Magic Win gambling app. According to the information, both the actresses are not guilty in the investigation. Information has also surfaced that the owner of the app is a Pakistani national, while some Indian nationals were operating it from Dubai.
ED's investigation has revealed that Magic Win App had illegally telecasted the Men's T20 World Cup. Online betting was also done.
According to information, Mallika Sherawat sent her reply to ED through email, while Pooja Banerjee reached ED's Ahmedabad office for questioning. According to sources, ED has also sent summons to two big personalities. Apart from this, summons may also be sent to 7 big celebrities, TV actors and comedians next week. In this case, in the last 6 months, ED has raided around 67 places across the country.
The ED said on Tuesday that many Bollywood celebrities attended the launch party of the app. These people shot videos and photos for the promotion of Magic Win and also shared them on their social media accounts.
Mahadev betting app: Ranbir Kapoor, Kapil Sharma caught attending lavish wedding It was February last year. A lavish wedding took place in the glittering city of Ras Al Khaimah, UAE. A chartered plane was arranged for his guests. Dozens of celebrities like Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Atif Aslam, Tiger Shroff were invited to attend and perform at the party.
Yogesh Bapat's event management company R-1 Events Pvt Ltd was hired for the wedding. About 200 crore rupees were spent on this grand wedding and the entire payment was made in hawala or cash. This was the marriage of 28-year-old Saurabh Chandrakar, who lives in Bhilai, Chhattisgarh.
After this marriage, Saurabh and his Mahadev betting app came under the radar of investigative agencies. ED has sent summons to celebrities like Ranbir Kapoor and Kapil Sharma in this case. Dozens of Bollywood celebrities were caught in the Mahadev betting money laundering scam.
Saurabh Chandrakar got married in Dubai in February 2023 with much fanfare. Around 17 big celebs arrived to attend this wedding ceremony. Saurabh was targeted by ED after this wedding ceremony. Photo: @garg_trupti/X
Disadvantages of betting platforms In a landmark judgment on March 6, 2020, the Supreme Court has divided online betting into two…
First – A game of skill means betting money according to your knowledge and understanding. This is not a crime.
Second : A game of chance, i.e. gambling by just trying your luck.
According to Supreme Court lawyer Virag Gupta, only games of skill have been legally recognized as per Supreme Court decision and law. Betting and gambling are illegal in India, the state police have powers to take action against them. However, by changing the arbitration rules, the central government has given a strange recognition to betting apps under the guise of gaming.
This is the reason why betting apps under the guise of online gaming are doing trillions of business in India. Online betting apps like Dream 11, Fantasy 11, My Circle and Rummy are doing a huge business under this skill game rule.
This can be estimated from the fact that in 2019 the value of fantasy sports was Rs 920 crore, while in 2020 it has reached Rs 24,000 crore. Many other apps like Mahadev book app in the country cheat the youth by doing illegal business.
According to Virag, former Supreme Court judge Justice Lodha Committee recommended legalization of betting in sports in its 2015 report following the spot-fixing scandal in the IPL. The 21st Law Commission in its 2018 report recommended legalization of gambling and betting. Fantasy sports also came under this. However, instead of making a clear law on this, the government has indirectly recognized the business of illegal gaming apps for betting and gambling under the guise of games of skill.
Such apps are doing illegal business on a large scale and also evading taxes. In the case of tax evasion of 55 thousand crores, the GST department has issued recovery notices to these companies.
According to a report by Business Standard, these companies have stolen 1.5 lakh crores of GST.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
