The Madurai bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday issued notices to Indian cricket team captain Virat Kohli, BCCI chief Sourav Ganguly, actors Prakash Raj, Tammana, Rana and Sudip Khan for their involvement in online sports app advertisements. A bench consisting of Justices N Kirubakaran and B Pugalendhi issued the notices to these celebrities as well as other such apps.

“The apps are in the name of IPL teams such as Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and some apps are also in the name of state’s names. Are these teams playing on behalf of the state,” said the bench.

The case has been filed by Advocate Mohammed Rizvi after some youths died by suicide after allegedly losing money while playing the fantasy sports on such platforms. The bench accused the owners of these apps of using celebrities for the sake of earning crores. All the above names need to respond to the notice by 19 November.

Back in August, a Chennai based lawyer had filed a similar case, seeking a ban on online gambling, and asking for the arrest of celebrities endorsing it. The petition by the lawyer stated that gambling addiction is more dangerous to society and violates Article 21 of the Constitution of India, as it infringes the right to life. This is right after Mobile Premier League (MPL) was picked as the apparel sponsor of the Indian cricket team for three years. It replaced sports apparel giant Nike who was associated with BCCI since 2006.