Mumbai/IBNS: Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor has been summoned by the Enforcement Directorate to appear before the agency in connection with a case involving a gaming app.

The actor has featured in several commercials promoting the gaming app.

According to the probe agency, Ranbir was given a large amount of money for the ads, which was from the proceeds of a crime.

The controversial app platform, Mahadev Online Book App, 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 ED has alleged. 

As per 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, NDTV quoting sources reported.

Last month, the ED seized assets worth Rs. 417 crore in connection with the online betting case.

Mahadev Online Book App's promoters, who hail from Bhilai in Chhattisgarh, were running 4-5 such apps and all of them were 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 and  has its call centres in Sri Lanka and Nepal, ED stated.

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.