BENGALURU: Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Sunday brought Congress MLA K C Veerendra to Bengaluru for further investigation into a money laundering case linked to illegal betting, with sources saying that he will be also questioned in matters related to casinos in Sri Lanka, Nepal and Georgia linked to the politicians.According to the sources, the MLA, who is in ED custody, was flown in from Sikkim on Sunday morning. A special ED team took him into custody upon his arrival at the airport. To prevent any untoward incident, strict security was in place at Terminal-2 of the Kempegowda International Airport. Officials swiftly moved Veerendra away from the media, taking him to an undisclosed location. Searches were conducted by the agency in multiple states as part of an alleged illegal betting-linked money laundering case against Veerendra, his brother and some others on Friday.At least 30 locations in Chitradurga district, Bengaluru and Hubballi in Karnataka, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Mumbai and Goa were searched, the sources said. 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.As per ED sources, the searches were conducted in a case related to ‘illegal’ online and offline betting. Veerendra is accused of running several online betting sites. like King567, Raja567, Puppy’s003, Rathna Gaming etc., and his brother K C 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.
