Chennai: Indian Cricket Team Captain Virat Kohli and BCCI Chief and former Indian captain Sourav Ganguly are among the fifteen respondents who were summoned by the Madras High Court on Tuesday for endorsing online sports app advertisements.
Actors Prakash Raj, Tamanna Bhatia, Rana Duggubati and Sudeep are also included in the notice issued by the Madurai Bench of the court.
The bench of justices N. Kirubakaran and B. Pugalendhi issued notices on a petition filed alleging that some youth died by suicide in various parts of the country after losing money in such apps.
The petition alleged that the online gambling is plunging Indians into penury and forcing people to commit suicides.
The petitioner also alleged that the central and state governments are afraid to take action against the said online game groups.
"The Governments have not taken any steps to investigate the source of funds, headquarters and origin of nation. The online games group for their personal benefit misusing the young population of India," the petition said.
It alleged that the said actors are promoting and endorsing unethical immoral online gambling, using their familiarities to promote online gambling.
"They hook innocent youngsters to play online gambling games. They are encouraging online gambling. And they are spread over the poison seed through their advertisement," the plea said.
The plea prayed the court to issue directions to the respondents to ensure that online games, particularly for kids, comply with best international standards, regulations and that they safeguard the Indian youths from the unwanted social media network.
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Union Ministry of Telecom of Information Technology, GDP of Tamil Nadu police are also among the respondents.