Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has reportedly sought two weeks time to appear before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in Mahadev app betting case. The actor was asked to appear before the investigating agency on October 6.
Ranbir promoted and endorsed the online betting app on social media, and thus, he has received the summons. His statement in the case will be recorded as a witness.
Sources said the ED found that Ranbir endorsed a subsidiary app, which is also promoted by Mahadev Book app promoters, and the actor allegedly received cash for the promotion.
ED officials aim to determine when he began promoting the app, the amount of money he received for these promotions, and the method of payment (whether by check or in cash). They also aim to seek information about individuals with whom he came into contact for promotional purposes and wish to confirm if any contracts were signed.
For those unversed, the Mahadev Book app is an online betting platform which is being investigated by the ED and the police due to its illegal money laundering activities.
The company, promoted by Sourabh Chandrakar and Ravi Uppal, was allegedly being run from Dubai, and laundered money through layered benami accounts. The scam came to light in February 2023, when Chandrakar got married in a lavish ceremony wherein he spent Rs 200 crore in cash.
A few days ago, the ED had raided the offices of several celebrity managers in Mumbai and Delhi in the same case, and had seized cash worth Rs 2.50 crore.
Chandrakar's wedding was attended by the some of the biggest Bollywood celebrities like Tiger Shroff, Sunny Leone, Neha Kakkar, Vishal Dadlani, Elli AvrRam, Bharti Singh, Bhagyashree, Kriti Kharbanda, Nushrratt Bharuccha, Atif Aslam, Rahat Fateh Ali Khan, Ali Asgar, Krushna Abhishek and Sukhwinder Singh.
As per ED, Rs 112 crore was paid to an event management company for the wedding via hawala, and around Rs 42 crore in cash was poured in for bookings at swanky hotels. The listed celebs are expected to receive summons from the ED too.
