Pramesh S Jain
Continue Investigations into the Congress MLA KC Veerendra from Chitradurga for running illegal online betting racket,officials of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED)officials on thursday seized two lockers in Challekere and recovered 40 kilograms of gold bullion worth Rs.50.3 crore .
Earlier,ED has seized assets worth ₹103 Crore in form of around 21 kgs gold bars,cash,gold and silver jewellery, bank accounts and high-end vehicles taking the total seizure in the case is more than ₹ 150 Crore till date.
The said searches and tracing of Proceeds of Crime in an illegal online betting case, have been undertaken during the Judicial Custody of prime accused (K C Veerendra,MLA Chitradurga District)under the provision of PMLA act.
According to the official release,ED investigation revealed that,the accused Veerendra in association with other friends and family members is involved in operations of many illegal online betting websites identified as King567,Raja567 and cheating innocent players through the same.
Funds collection from players has been routed using several gateways like Fone Paisa .
The money so collected is routed through several mule accounts which are sourced by these betting operators from intermediaries from all across India.
ED investigation has revealed nexus of online betting apps with isolated instances of cyber crime across India, by way of mule accounts creation in name of individuals in exchange for petty sums.
The estimated turnover of these betting applications being controlled by K C Veerendra is more than Rs.2000 Crore,the release said .
ED investigation has revealed that Veerendra, his family members and associates have booked several international travel tickets,visa and other hospitality services worth crores of rupees,financed through a network of mule accounts linked to proceeds from online betting websites.
Further,expenses like marketing,bulk SMS services, platform hosting,Search Engine Optimization with respect to operations of these mule accounts is also paid through these accounts controlled by Veerendra and his associates.
The evidences suggest that the funds used for these high-value transactions were diverted from illicit online activities and funnelled through multiple intermediary accounts to obscure their origin.Further investigation is under progress.
