Actress Tamannaah Bhatia has been summoned by the Maharashtra Cyber Cell for questioning in relation to the illegal streaming of IPL 2023 matches on the Fairplay App. The streaming reportedly caused significant financial losses amounting to crores of rupees for Viacom.
According to sources, Tamannaah has been asked to appear before the Maharashtra Cyber Cell on April 29th. This development comes after her name emerged in connection with the case, with allegations suggesting her involvement in endorsing FairPlay’s subsidiary app, which was linked to the Mahadev betting app.
Similarly, actor Sanjay Dutt was also summoned earlier in connection with the case on April 23rd. However, due to scheduling conflicts, Dutt was unable to appear and has requested a new date for his statement recording.
The illegal streaming case, which dates back to September 2023, originated from a complaint filed by Viacom18, citing violation of their Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) for streaming IPL matches. The FIR highlighted that despite Viacom’s rights, the FairPlay platform continued to stream the matches illegally, resulting in substantial financial losses for the company.
Notably, several other prominent figures, including Badshah, Jacqueline Fernandez, and Sanjay Dutt, were previously called in for questioning in connection with the case. Additionally, it is reported that more than 20 influencers who endorsed the FairPlay app on various platforms are also likely to be summoned soon to record their statements.
In December 2023, an arrest was made involving an employee of the betting app, further underscoring the legal actions taken in response to the illegal streaming allegations.
