Cricket is stinking Yuvraj, Uthappa, Raina, Shikhar under ED net

ED summons cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa

• After questioning Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan on 13th August and 4th September respectively, the ED sent summons to former cricketers Yuvraj Singh and Robin Uthappa in money laundering case against several illegal betting platforms that use multiple platforms for surrogate advertisements and gather funds from the use, officials stated on Tuesday.
• Robin Uthappa has been asked to appear at ED headquarters on 22nd September and record his statement under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), Yuvraj Singh has been asked to appear before the probe agency on 23rd September.
• A while ago, Suresh Raina and Shikhar Dhawan were questioned by the financial crimes probe agency on 13th August and 4th September, respectively in this case.

List of celebrities summoned by the ED

• Former Trinamool Congress (TMC) Member of Parliament (MP) Mimi Chakraborty was questioned on Monday while Bengali actor Ankush Hazra was questioned on Tuesday by the ED.
• Bollywood actress Urvashi Rautela was also summoned on Tuesday but she did not come to record her statement till the filing of the report, officials stated.
• The ED has been summoning several celebrities to understand their links with the illegal betting apps, any endorsement fee earned and the mode of communication between them.

Google and Meta summoned by the ED

• In July, the ED had sent summons to the representatives of Google and Meta for questioning as part of the probe.
• The financial crimes probe agency is probing multiple illegal online betting platforms and has asked tech firms, representatives of media houses who have received money as advertisements from them.
• Earlier, representatives from Meta and Google were also summoned in this probe.
• Multiple platforms hosting illegal betting and gambling links, including examples of advertisements placed for them on various social media platforms and app stores are under the ED scanner.

The probe goes back to the past…

• In 2023, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting issued four advisories to newspapers, broadcast news channels, entertainment channels, publishers of online news and current affairs content, online advertisement intermediaries like Google and Facebook, and social media platforms to not advertise online betting platforms.
• In spite of these instructions from the Centre being rolled out, eminent personalities from the field of entertainment and sports endorsed them.
• These actors and sportspersons are in the ED net and could be summoned any time in the near future, according to an ED officer.
• According to the information collected by the ED over the past few months, multiple betting platforms even after getting banned, are still functional by changing their names and get endorsed by celebrities and social media influencers.
• These illegal betting platforms are violating multiple laws and directions of the Indian government, including but not limited to tax evasion, money laundering, and Foreign Exchange Management Act (FEMA) as money is laundered out of the country illegally.
• According to estimates, around 220 million Indians are using several betting apps, and 110 million are active users, said the officer.

Editor’s Note

• Since, summoning eminent celebrities and sportspersons in the money laundering probe against illegal betting platforms, the ED has cracked down hard. It will be interesting to see how this crackdown traps the real culprits. The ED’s prompt action spells better times for the country and worst times for the illegal betting platforms.