According to news agency ANI, actress Tamannaah Bhatia has been called in by Maharashtra Cyber Wing to appear in court regarding the unauthorized broadcasting of Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 matches on FairPlay, a sister app of Mahadev betting app, which is against the broadcast rights of the Viacom 18 group.
The well-known actress from “Baahubali,” who has been called in for interrogation over allegations that she encouraged people to watch IPL matches on the Fairplay betting app, is expected to testify before the Cyber Cell on April 29.
Sanjay Dutt’s name reportedly surfaced in relation to the case as well. Earlier this week, he was summoned to appear for interrogation. He requested a new date since he was unable to attend owing to his schedule.
As to the news source, Viacom suffered a loss of crores of rupees due to the illicit streaming.
The Maharashtra cyber police had earlier questioned Bollywood musician and rapper Badshah as well as the managers of stars Sanjay Dutt and Jacqueline Fernandez for allegedly pushing the betting app and asking people to use it to watch the cricket matches.
What is the situation?
The lawsuit stems from a 2023 FIR filed by the Viacom 18 company, alleging that some IPL 2023 matches were illegally broadcast on Fairplay, with several performers endorsing and promoting the betting app.
VOOT, an OTT platform, and a number of television stations are owned by Viacom18. Its anti-piracy team discovered in October 2021 that seven apps—Pikashow, Foxi, Vedu, Smart Player Lite, Film Plus, Tea TV, and Wow TV—were being used to view unlawfully serials, reality series, and other material that was being broadcast on the Viacom 18 network.
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