Karnataka Congress MLA KC Veerendra 'Puppy' was arrested on Saturday under the anti-money laundering law from Sikkim in an alleged illegal online and offline betting case, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) said. The federal probe agency also said it seized ₹12 crore in cash (including about ₹crore in foreign currency), gold jewellery worth ₹6 crore, silver about 10 kg along with four vehicles following raids launched on Friday in multiple states.
The agency did not specify exactly what was seized from where. A picture issued by the agency showed huge wads of currency notes kept on a casino table.
The ED said the 50-year-old MLA from Chitradurga Assembly seat in Karnataka was taken into custody from Sikkim's capital Gangtok on Friday under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in an "illegal" online and offline betting case.
The legislator had gone to Gangtok along with his associates on a business visit to lease a casino, the agency said. He was produced before a designated magistrate and a transit remand was obtained for producing him before the jurisdictional court in Bengaluru, the agency said.
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The Bengaluru zone of the ED is investigating the case.
There was no immediate reaction from the MLA's legal team or the Congress party.
"Many property-related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra's brother KC Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj.
"His other associates like another brother KC Thippeswamy are handling operations of online gaming from Dubai," the ED said.
The agency concluded the raids on Saturday from 31 locations that included Chitradurga, Hubballi and Bengaluru in Karnataka, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Sikkim, Mumbai and Goa.
Five casinos in Goa named Puppy's Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy's Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino were also raided.
Veerendra, according to the ED, is accused of running online betting sites like King567, Raja567, Puppy's003, Rathna Gaming, etc. and his brother KC Thippeswamy is alleged to be "operating" three business entities from Dubai named Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9Technologies.
These entities are "related" to the call centre services and the gaming business of Veerendra, according to the ED.
The agency said it has also frozen about 17 bank accounts and 2 lockers during the searches, even as some Instagram posts claiming the MLA had the "biggest car collection" in Chitradurga with 003 registration number plate are under probe. The ownership and source of funds of these high-end vehicles is being investigated, the sources said.
Among the seizures are a number of international casino membership and reward cards named -- MGM casino, metropolitan casino, Bellagio casino, marina casino, casino jewel, and so on. Multiple credit and debit cards of various banks and membership cards of some 5-star hotels were also seized from various locations which was not informed by the agency.
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