Hyderabad: Actor Vijay Deverakonda appeared before the Telangana government’s Special Investigation Team (SIT) on Tuesday in connection with cases related to the promotion of online betting applications, police said.

A senior police official confirmed that Deverakonda was questioned by investigators as part of the ongoing probe.

The Telangana government set up the SIT, operating under the overall supervision of the Additional Director General of Police, CID, to curb illegal betting activities and conduct a comprehensive investigation into online betting app cases.

The team has taken over four cases registered against organisers of online betting platforms and similar applications. Police said the cases were filed in March this year following complaints that such apps were luring young people and the general public with promises of easy money, ultimately pushing many into financial and psychological distress, and in some tragic instances, suicide.

Several illegal betting app operators, film actors, and social media influencers have been booked under various provisions of the Telangana State Gaming Act, 2017, the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), and the Information Technology Act for allegedly promoting these platforms online.

Deverakonda had previously appeared before the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August as part of a money laundering investigation linked to illegal online betting and gambling operations. At the time, the actor clarified that he had only endorsed a gaming app, stating, “I was doing an endorsement for a gaming app. There is no connection between gaming apps and betting apps.”

Born in Hyderabad, Deverakonda made his acting debut with the 2011 Telugu film Nuvvila and rose to prominence with the 2017 blockbuster Arjun Reddy.