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ED grills Suresh Raina for 8 hours in illegal betting apps probe
Raina, who was seen interacting with the ED staff and CISF personnel outside the agency's office, marked his attendance at 11 am.
The Enforcement Directorate on Wednesday questioned former India cricketer Suresh Raina for more than eight hours in its money laundering probe against illegal online betting platforms.
Raina, who was seen interacting with the ED staff and CISF personnel outside the agency's office, marked his attendance at 11 am, and left around 8 pm, PTI reported.
The agency also recorded Raina's statement under the prevention of money laundering act (PMLA) for endorsing a sports betting app, which was involved in illegal practices.
Raina allegedly undertook certain endorsements for the betting app. The ED interrogated the former Indian cricketer to understand his links with the app, any endorsement fee which he might have received, and the mode of communication used between both parties, PTI quoted sources as saying.
Meanwhile, an ED officer said that “another former Indian cricketer has also been asked to appear before the agency”, without naming the individual.
The agency, which is calling several celebrities with links to betting apps for interrogation, had also summoned representatives of Google and Meta for questioning as part of the probe.
The ED is investigating multiple such cases which involve illegal betting apps, and has also questioned tech firms and media houses’ representatives who have received money in the form of advertisements from them.
The apps under the scanner have allegedly duped several people and investors of crores of rupees, while also evading taxes.
There are around 22 crore Indians using such online betting apps, with half of them being regular users, according to PTI. The online betting app market in India is worth over USD 100 billion, PTI quoted experts as saying.
In relation to online betting, the union ministry of information and broadcasting had, in 2023, issued four advisories to newspapers, broadcast news channels, entertainment channels, publishers of online news and current affairs content, online advertisement intermediaries, and social media platforms to not advertise these platforms.
However, despite the advisories, celebrities from the entertainment and sports fields continued to endorse such apps, with some of them now being under the ED scanner, according to an officer.
