PIL in Telangana HC over display of betting ads on Hyderabad Metro
Hyderabad: Following Telangana police crackdown on online betting apps, a public interest litigation was filed in the Telangana High Court seeking directions to the Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd, GHMC and police department to take down all advertisements promoting betting and gambling apps which are displayed on metro trains and stations in the city.
In his petition, Advocate Nagur Babu has requested the high court to issue directives to the Enforcement Directorate to probe the alleged agreements and financial transactions of Hyderabad Metro Rail Ltd with and several offshore betting platforms such as FairPlay, 1xBAT, MyJackpot777, among others.
The petitioner also raised the jurisdictional issue of these foreign-based online betting platforms which do not have permission to function in India.
He argued that by prominently displaying these entities, the metro rail authority is inadvertently promoting these apps and as a result unsuspecting individuals may get involved in illegal betting activities and lose their hard-earned savings. The petitioner further requested the court to order a CBI probe into the matter.
Earlier, the state police chief Jitender formed a five-member special investigation team (SIT) to crack down on online betting. CID chief Shikha Goel will lead the SIT team which comprised of inspector general of police (Provisions & Logistics) M Ramesh, superintendent of police (Intelligence) Ch Sindhu Sharma, CID SP K Venkata Lakshmi, additional superintendent S Chandrakanth, and DSP (CID ) M Shankar.
“The SIT shall thoroughly and expeditiously investigate all online betting cases that are specifically assigned or transferred to it. lt shall study the existing ecosystem that enables and facilitates online betting/gaming and recommend necessary reforms to curb these activities. The SIT shall evaluate legal provisions, regulations, and restrictions that can be introduced to prevent the organizing, promotion, and advertising of online betting/gaming and suggest legal action in public interest,” an order from the Telangana DGP office stated.
