New Delhi: A day after ED conducted searches at 30 premises associated with Karnataka Congress MLA KC Veerendra and on his alleged nationwide illegal betting and gambling network, the agency Saturday arrested him from Gangtok where he had gone to set up a casino.ED searches Friday led to the seizure of Rs 12 crore cash, including Rs 1 crore in foreign currency and gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore, besides property documents and other crucial evidence related to several online gaming and betting websites run by the legislator and his associates in several cities. The agency has also unearthed several casinos in Goa which were allegedly being associated with the MLA. Seventeen bank accounts and two bank lockers were also frozen.Many property related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra’s brother KC Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj. Veerendra’s other brother KC Thippeswamy, along with Pruthvi, was handling online gaming operations from Dubai, according to ED sources.Veerendra, with his associates, had travelled to Gangtok via Bagdogra on a “business visit” to lease land for the casino, officials privy to probe said. “Incriminating material seized during search proceedings indicate complex layering of cash and other funds. To further identify proceeds of crime, KC Veerendra was arrested from Gangtok on Aug 23 and produced before judicial magistrate, Gangtok, Sikkim, and transit remand was obtained for producing him before the jurisdictional court,” a source said.Searches were conducted in Bengaluru, Jodhpur, Hubli, Mumbai and Goa on individuals and entities involved in both online and offline betting and gambling. Several casinos linked to the Congress MLA were also part of the searches, including many online platforms. Other politicians also covered during the searches, sources said. In Goa, ED searched five casinos – Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino, all related to the MLA, in a money laundering case of illegal betting and gambling.”Search revealed that accused (Veerendra) is running several online betting sites in the name of King567, Raja567, Puppy’s003, Rathna Gaming, etc. Further, the brother of the accused, KC Thippeswamy, is operating three business entities from Dubai” sources said, adding these entities are related to call centres and gaming business of Veerendra.
