Produced by: Bhoomika Aggarwal
Designed by: Manoj Kumar
Sub-inspector Somnath Zende from Maharashtra's Pimpri-Chinchwad recently won a whopping Rs 1.5 crore after his Dream11 team won during the England vs Bangladesh World Cup match on October 10. He went public with his win and even had media interactions, where he bragged about his winning amount
However, cop Somnath Zende’s win and the subsequent limelight on it did not go down well with the law enforcement authorities, who are cracking down on online gaming apps with stakes, as per the Centre's regulation to curb such platforms
Soon after this, Somnath Zende was suspended for playing an online game with stakes without prior permission, giving an interview to the media organisations while wearing the police uniform and violating the Civil Services Rules of Conduct
During an interaction with Aaj Tak, Somnath said that he had won Rs 1.5 crore while playing an online match on the Dream11 platform. He said, "I will use this money to construct my house and will invest the rest of the amount in an FD. He will use the interest income in funding the education of his children."
ACP of Pimpri Chinchwad police Satish Mane told AajTak, "Sub-Inspector Somnath Zende took part in online gaming and after winning the money, he gave some interviews to the media organisations following which they started a preliminary investigation. As per the rules, he did not take prior permission before taking part in an online game with stakes and gave interviews while wearing the police uniform. He (Somnath) has been suspended as per the IPC rules."
Dream11 is an online gaming platform which encourages its users to form online gaming teams on the platform for any ongoing cricket match along with other users of the platform. This comes under the category of fantasy gaming apps in India, which are facing a crackdown by the authorities
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had announced a 28% GST on online games, including overseas platforms, as well as casinos and horse racing
Online skill games played for stakes are at par with online gambling when it comes to matters of taxation, as of now. The SC earlier opposed the Karnataka High Court’s order differentiating games of chance from games of skill and reasoning that the two should be taxed differently
The 2022 ruling by the Karnataka HC had cited the Kerala HC’s 2021 decision by a single judge in Head Digital Works Pvt. Ltd. vs. State of Kerala, which said, “..As such playing for stakes or playing not for stakes can never be a criterion to find out whether a game is a game of skill… The game of Online Rummy will also have to be held to be a game of skill…”