Gangtok: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has arrested Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra ‘Puppy’ under the anti-money laundering law from Sikkim. This is in connection with an alleged illegal online and offline betting case. The agency said that the 50-year-old MLA from Chitradurga was produced before a designated magistrate in Sikkim’s capital Gangtok on Friday and a transit remand was obtained for producing him before the jurisdictional court in Bengaluru.
The ED had, on Friday, carried out searches at 30 locations across six states in connection with the case against Veerendra, his brother and several others. The agency’s Bengaluru zonal office searched six premises in Chitradurga, 10 in Bengaluru, three in Jodhpur, one in Hubli, two in Mumbai and eight in Goa. These included prominent casinos – Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino, and Big Daddy Casino.
According to officials, preliminary findings suggest that Veerendra and his associates were running multiple illegal betting websites under names such as King567, Raja567, Puppy’s003, and Rathna Gaming. The investigation further revealed that the MLA’s brother K C Thippeswamy was operating three Dubai-based entities, Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime9 Technologies that were linked to the call centre and gaming operations, it was alleged.
The ED also covered premises linked to Anil Gowda, brother of MLA Kusuma H from Rajarajeshwarinagar, Bengaluru. Officials further said incriminating digital and documentary evidence related to the betting racket and its alleged overseas links were seized during the searches. The agency also said it seized Rs 12 crore in cash (including foreign currency), gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, silver about 10 kgs, along with four vehicles during the raids.
The legislator from Karnataka had gone to Gangtok along with his associates on a business visit to lease a casino, the agency claimed.
“Many property-related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra’s brother K C Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj. His other associates like another brother K C Thippeswamy are handling operations of online gaming from Dubai,” the ED claimed.