31 October,2023 06:16 AM IST | Mumbai | Faizan Khan
Badshah at the cyber police office in Cuffe Parade on Monday. Pic/Shadab Khan
Following a complaint from Viacom18, the Maharashtra Cyber Police summoned rapper Badshah for questioning over his alleged promotion of the FairPlay app, on which Indian Premier League (IPL) 2023 matches were allegedly streamed without authorisation. Viacom18, which holds exclusive broadcasting rights for IPL the, claim it suffered a loss of over R100 crore due to the illegal streaming of its content.
According to the cops, Badshah's summons is part of an investigation involving 40 celebrities, including Sanjay Dutt and Jacqueline Fernandez, who endorsed the illegal platform. An FIR has been registered under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those pertaining to cheating and criminal conspiracy, as well as the IT and Copyright Acts.
A Maharashtra cyber officer mentioned that statements of the celebrities in question were being recorded. As per the FIR, Viacom18's anti-piracy team has been vigilant about apps illegally telecasting their content. They identified multiple apps such as KASHOW, FOKI, VEDU, SMART PLAYER LITE, WOW TV and FairPlay that telecasted Tata IPL 2023 without any rights or collaboration with Viacom18. An officer emphasised that this constituted a violation of intellectual property rights as per the law.
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Badshah's lawyer Prashant Patil said, "My client was summoned by the Cyber Crime Department for the matter pertaining to the FairPlay App. There is an alleged complaint filed against the app for breaching copyrights of a reputable company and broadcasting the IPL cricket matches. Pertaining to these allegations certain celebrities/artistes were summoned in the capacity of witness. Badshah was summoned as a witness and not as an accused. As a law-abiding citizen, Badshah appeared before the department and duly cooperated with the investigation agency. He has produced bank records, which clearly reflect that he has not committed any offence and is just a witness in the entire investigation. If called again, Mr Badshah shall further cooperate with the investigation agency."
