Actor Ranbir Kapoor has been asked to appear before the Enforcement Directorate on Friday in connection with a case involving a gaming app.
The actor has featured in several commercials promoting the app. The probe agency has claimed that he was given a large amount of money in exchange, which was from the proceeds of a crime.
Mahadev Online Book App, the app at the centre of the controversy, is an umbrella syndicate arranging online platforms for enabling illegal betting websites to enrol new users, create user IDs and laundering of money through a layered web of benami bank accounts, the probe agency has alleged.
In the new rules for online gaming, the government has prohibited any game that involves betting and wagering.
Around a dozen other celebrities and actors are under the agency scanner in this case and they will also be summoned soon, sources said.
Last month, the probe agency, which investigates financial fraud, seized assets worth Rs 417 crore in connection with the online betting case.
The company promoters, who hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, were running 4-5 such apps, all of them earning a profit of around Rs 200 crore per day, said the probe agency.
The gaming app is run from a central head office in the UAE, the probe agency investigation has shown. The app also has its call centres in Sri Lanka, Nepal.
Large expenditure in cash is also being done in India for advertising of betting websites to attract new users and franchise (panel) seekers, it said.
