ED Questions Actor Prakash Raj For Five Hours In Betting Apps Case

At around 10.30 am on Wednesday, Prakash Raj, accompanied by his legal adviser, reached the ED office located at Basheerbagh in the city and appeared before ED officials following a summons asking him to appear on July 30. This was the first instance in the betting apps case where the ED questioned Prakash Raj on the promotion of betting apps.

During the five-hour-long interrogation, it was reported that ED officials questioned the actor about his intent behind promoting such illegal betting apps and inquired whether any financial transactions had occurred between him and the app managements. The agency also grilled him about how the app operators approached him to promote their business activities.

After the questioning, Prakash Raj spoke to the media, stating that he had appeared before the ED as a responsible citizen of the country and that the ED had done its job according to the law. He clarified that he promoted the betting app in 2016 but did not receive any money and that no transactions had taken place.

"I informed everything to the ED during the questioning. No further notice has been served to me in connection with the case. I completely stopped promoting betting apps after realising it was illegal in 2016," Prakash Raj said.

The ED had served notices to several film actors, asking them to appear for questioning. Actor Rana Daggubati, however, sought more time, stating he was busy with a scheduled film shoot in Tamil Nadu, and the ED rescheduled his questioning to August 11.

Actor Vijay Deverakonda is scheduled to appear before the ED on August 6, and Manchu Lakshmi on August 13.