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NCB grills Rakul, Deepika’s ex-manager, Dharma honcho

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Fashion designer Simone Khambatta was questioned by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) for over four hours on Thursday in the drugs angle related to Bollywood actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death case.

Khambatta’s name cropped up after her alleged drug chats came to the fore. Sushant’s former manager Shruti Modi was also being interrogated in a drug related case during the day, officials said.

Bollywood actor Rakul Preet Singh, who was also summoned for questioning on the day, skipped the NCB summons, officials said. Earlier in the day, an NCB official said that Rakul’s summons were issued on Wednesday and on Thursday morning she acknowledged them and updated her latest address also.

An NCB source said that Rakul will be joining the drug law enforcement agency probe on Friday morning.

According to NCB officials, Khambatta arrived at the NCB office here for questioning around 10.15 a.m. and left around 2.30 p.m. Khambatta was questioned about her alleged chats to procure drugs for consumption, the sources said.

Shruti Modi arrived for the third at the NCB office earlier and her questioning is ongoing, the agency sleuths said.

On Wednesday, the NCB also summoned actresses Deepika Padukone, Shradhha Kapoor, Sara Ali Khan for questioning in a drugs related case.

Deepika, who was shooting in Goa for a film, has left for Mumbai. Even Sara was spotted at the Goa Airport along with her mother Amrita Singh while returning to Mumbai earlier.

On Wednesday, besides Deepika, the NCB sent summons to her manager Karishma Prakash for questioning on Friday and Sara and Shradhha for questioning on Saturday.

The NCB registered a case under the NDPS Act on the request of the Enforcement Directorate (ED) that has been probing the money laundering charges into the June 14 death of Sushant.

The narcotics probe agency registered the case after a few alleged chats of Sushant’s girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty, her brother Showik, Sushant’s house manager Samuel Miranda discussing drugs came to the fore.

The NCB has so far questioned Rhea, Showik, Modi, Sushant’s talent manager Jaya Saha, Kwan talent management agency CEO Dhruv Chitgopekar, ‘Udta Punjab’ Producer Madhu Mantena Varma among several others.

Responding to a question on the number of cases the drugs law enforcement agency is probing, an NCB official said: “The agency has registered two separate cases under the NDPS Act. There are few aspects in both cases which warrant examination of both Sara and Shraddha, so they will be examined in both cases.”

The NCB has already arrested Rhea, Showik, Miranda, Sushant’s personal staff Dipesh Sawant and 16 others in the case so far. Rhea, Showik, Miranda and Sawant were in judicial custody. The official said while the alleged chats of Deepika with her manager Prakash discussing drugs in October 2017 brought them into the probe net, Shradhha and Sara’s role came to the fore following the questioning of Saha.

The NCB is the third federal agency to probe the death of Sushant besides the CBI and the ED.

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Casino Days Reveal Internal Data on Most Popular Smartphones

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CasinoDays India

International online casino Casino Days has published a report sharing their internal data on what types and brands of devices are used to play on the platform by users from the South Asian region.

Such aggregate data analyses allow the operator to optimise their website for the brands and models of devices people are actually using.

The insights gained through the research also help Casino Days tailor their services based on the better understanding of their clients and their needs.

Desktops and Tablets Lose the Battle vs Mobile

The primary data samples analysed by Casino Days reveal that mobile connections dominate the market in South Asia and are responsible for a whopping 96.6% of gaming sessions, while computers and tablets have negligible shares of 2.9% and 0.5% respectively.

CasinoDays India

The authors of the study point out that historically, playing online casino was exclusively done on computers, and attribute thе major shift to mobile that has unfolded over time to the wide spread of cheaper smartphones and mobile data plans in South Asia.

“Some of the reasons behind this massive difference in device type are affordability, technical advantages, as well as cheaper and more obtainable internet plans for mobiles than those for computers,” the researchers comment.

Xiaomi and Vivo Outperform Samsung, Apple Way Down in Rankings

Chinese brands Xiaomi and Vivo were used by 21.9% and 20.79% of Casino Days players from South Asia respectively, and together with the positioned in third place with a 18.1% share South Korean brand Samsung dominate the market among real money gamers in the region.

 

CasinoDays India

Cupertino, California-based Apple is way down in seventh with a user share of just 2.29%, overshadowed by Chinese brands Realme (11.43%), OPPO (11.23%), and OnePlus (4.07%).

Huawei is at the very bottom of the chart with a tiny share just below the single percent mark, trailing behind mobile devices by Motorola, Google, and Infinix.

The data on actual phone usage provided by Casino Days, even though limited to the gaming parts of the population of South Asia, paints a different picture from global statistics on smartphone shipments by vendors.

Apple and Samsung have been sharing the worldwide lead for over a decade, while current regional leader Xiaomi secured their third position globally just a couple of years ago.

Striking Android Dominance among South Asian Real Money Gaming Communities

The shifted market share patterns of the world’s top smartphone brands in South Asia observed by the Casino Days research paper reveal a striking dominance of Android devices at the expense of iOS-powered phones.

On the global level, Android enjoys a comfortable lead with a sizable 68.79% share which grows to nearly 79% when we look at the whole continent of Asia. The data on South Asian real money gaming communities suggests that Android’s dominance grows even higher and is north of the 90% mark.

Among the major factors behind these figures, the authors of the study point to the relative affordability of and greater availability of Android devices in the region, especially when manufactured locally in countries like India and Vietnam.

“And, with influencers and tech reviews putting emphasis on Android devices, the choice of mobile phone brand and OS becomes easy; Android has a much wider range of products and caters to the Asian online casino market in ways that Apple can’t due to technical limitations,” the researchers add.

The far better integration achieved by Google Pay compared to its counterpart Apple Pay has also played a crucial role in shaping the existing smartphone market trends.

 

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