Badshah summoned by Mumbai Police for social media promotion case

Later in the day, his team issued a statement in which Badshah categorically denied the charges. The singer’s statement claimed that he has never been involved in such practices and is cooperating with Mumbai Police. Below is his official statement regarding the controversy.

The case is about Chtrbox, a leading social media influencers marketing company, which was in 2019 accused of leaking private data of as many as 49 million Instagram users.

Chtrbox CEO, Pranay Swarup might also be on the radar. The company, in one of its popular tools Boombox, has included names such as Virat Kohli, Priyanka Chopra and Badshah as its clients.

According to the Mumbai Police Crime Branch sources, many of the celeb profiles included in the company’s client list is fake. In his statement to the crime branch, Swarup said he has a monthly earning of Rs 9 crore and boasts of having 30,000 clientele.

The crime branch has sought a list of all his followers from the rapper. Badshah happens to be the first Bollywood celebrity to be summoned by the crime branch in relation to the fake followers’ scam.

Sometime back, the Mumbai Police had busted the social media fake followers racket and several Bollywood celebrities, sports personalities and some high profile builders were alleged to be guilty of buying followers.

The matter came to light after Bollywood singer Bhumi Trivedi found a fake profile of hers on social media.

In the investigation so far, Mumbai Police have found a few Bollywood celebrities, sports personalities and as many as 176 high profile people who have allegedly paid to get followers.