Pramesh S Jain
Bengaluru:A day after the arrest of congress MLA, Veerendra Puppy was arrested under the anti-money laundering law from Sikkim in an alleged illegal online and offline betting case.
The Enforcement Directorate officials on Sunday escorted to the Judge residence and taken him into five days custody.
The accused was brought to the Bengaluru International airport on Sunday morning,from there he was escorted to the Bowring hospital for medical examination before he was whisked away to Judge’s residence in Koramangala at around 10 am.
After obtaining the custody, he was taken to the ED office at Shantinagar and the officials did not allow even his family members to meet .
Earlier the ED officials carried out a series of raids on the offices and residential premises of Puppy recovered Rs. 12 crore in cash,including Rs.1 crore in foreign currency, bundles of 100 US Dollars,10 and 20 British pounds,500 Dirhams and 100 and 50 Euro currency notes.
Puppy,the MLA from the ruling congress party,from Chitradurga,was arrested in Gangtok,Sikkim.
On August 22,The ED carried out a series of raids at 31 locations in different parts of India,including Gangtok, Chitradurga District,Bangalore City,Hubali,Jodhpur and Mumbai.
In Goa,the raids focused on Puppy’s Casino Gold,Ocean Rivers Casino,Puppy’s Casino Pride,Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino.
“Search has revealed that the accused is running several online betting sites in the name of King567, Raja567,etc.
Further,the brother KC Thippeswamy of the accused is operating three business entities from Dubai,through Diamond Softech,TRS Technologies,and Prime9 Technologies,related to the call centre services and gaming business of KC Veerendra Puppy,”the ED said in an official statement.
Apart from the currency, the ED investigators also recovered gold jewellery worth Rs.6 crore,silver articles weighing approximately 10 kg.Four vehicles were also impounded under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA),2002.
“Further, 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers were also frozen.Many properties related documents were also seized from the premises of the brother,KC Nagaraj and his son, Pruthvi N Raj.Several incriminating documents were also seized from several premises.
“His other associates,namely brother KC Thippeswamy, and Pruthvi N Raj,are handling operations of online gaming from Dubai.
Further, it was revealed that KC Veerendra,along with his associates,had travelled to Gangtok via Bagdogra on a business visit to lease a land casino,”the ED said.
The agency further claimed that searches indicated a complex layering of cash and other funds,which is the presently the point of investigation.
