ED arrests Karnataka Cong MLA in betting case, Rs 12-cr cash seized
The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) on Saturday arrested Karnataka Congress MLA KC Veerendra, alias “Puppy”, under provisions of the anti-money laundering law in connection with an alleged illegal online and offline betting racket. He was picked up from Sikkim after two days of nationwide searches.
According to the ED, its probe has revealed Veerendra’s alleged links with international casinos, gaming operations and a large illegal betting network. Officials said that he, along with associates, had travelled to Gangtok via Bagdogra to explore leasing a land-based casino.
Veerendra was produced before a Judicial Magistrate in Gangtok, from where his transit remand was secured for producing him before a jurisdictional court in Bengaluru.
The ED had carried out search operations on Friday and again on Saturday at 31 locations across the country, including Gangtok, Chitradurga, Bengaluru, Hubli, Jodhpur, Mumbai and Goa. The raids covered five casinos — Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino.
Investigators said Veerendra was operating several online betting portals under the names King567 and Raja567, among others. Evidence seized indicated “complex layering” of cash and funds.
During the searches, the ED recovered Rs 12 crore in cash, including about Rs 1 crore in foreign currency, gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, 10 kg of silver and four vehicles. Multiple international casino membership cards, luxury hotel memberships (Taj, Hyatt, Leela) and several high-value credit and debit cards were also seized.
Seventeen bank accounts and two bank lockers were frozen, while property-related documents were recovered from the premises of Veerendra’s brother KC Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj.
The ED said Veerendra’s brother, KC Thippeswamy, and his son Pruthvi were managing online gaming operations from Dubai. Thippeswamy is said to be running three entities — Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9Technologies — that allegedly handle call centre and gaming operations linked to Veerendra.
India