Pramesh S Jain
The special special court for people’s representatives on Thursday granted four more days of custody of Chitradurga MLA KC Veerendra ‘Puppy’after the Directorate of Enforcement (ED)officials made a submission that they needed more time to probe on betting sites and Apps belonging to the accused operating illegal betting worth several thousand crores .
Veerendra ‘Puppy’, who was arrested by the directorate of enforcement (ED) officials in an illegal betting case linked to money laundering was arrested by ED officials on Aug 23 from Gangtok,Sikkim,and brought to him to Bengaluru on Aug 24 on transit remand before taking him into custody for one week and later extended his custody for five more days .
ED special public prosecutor Pramod Chandra informed the court that the accused was running an illegal business.
During searches conducted in around 31 locations in including in Bengaluru,Hubballi,Chitradurga,Goa, Gangtok and Mumbai,ED found documents related to business in foreign countries .
During the course of the investigation followed by raids raids on Tuesday,the ED seized five high-end vehicles. Further,Rs.55 crore in various accounts has been frozen.
This includes Rs.40.69 crore in nine bank accounts and one Demat account of Mr.Veerendra, and Rs.14.46 crore in 262 mule accounts recovered from one of the accused gateways through which money collected by multiple gaming websites being operated by Mr. Veerendra and his associates were being routed,”the ED said.
As the custody of the accused ended on Thursday,he was produced before the Special Court for Public Representatives seeking 15 days more custody to probe as detailed investigation required to probe on more betting apps and websites which suspected to be running illegal business worth several thousand crores .
Objecting to the ED custody,advocates for Puppy argued that he is cooperating with the investigation and the ED claimed to have recovered over 2,000 crore worth property from him.
He was already in the ED custody for 11 days and should be remanded to judicial custody.Granting his custody for not cooperating is not acceptable .
After the court granted four days custody,Puppy, though his advocates demanded home food and no late night interrogation.
The judge while passing the order, said that the medical facility and other condition which were laid down in the previous order remain the same and the ordered the advocate to file separate affidavit to home cooked food, for the court consideration .
