NEW DELHI: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday arrested Karnataka Congress MLA KC Veerendra in Gangtok for his alleged involvement in illegal online and offline betting.The MLA, along with his associates, had travelled to Gangtok in Sikkim, where he was allegedly leasing a piece of land for a casino.Veerendra was arrested a day after the anti-money-laundering agency conducted a raid on his 30 premises, which led to the seizure of Rs 12 crore in cash, including approximately one crore in foreign currency, gold jewellery worth Rs 6 crore (approx) and silver articles around 10 kgs, along with four vehicles.

Hoard of cash ED recovered

The central agency also froze 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers. Many properties related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra’s brother, KC Nagaraj, and his son, Pruthvi N Raj. His other associates — brother K C Thippeswamy, and Pruthvi N Raj — were allegedly handling operations of online gaming from Dubai.Incriminating material seized during search proceedings indicated “complex layering of cash and other funds”.Veerendra was arrested and produced before a Gangtok judicial magistrate to futher identify the proceeds of crime.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 Congress MLA, as part of money laundering case. “The searches have revealed that the accused (KC Veerendra) is running several online betting sites, like King567, Raja567, Puppy’s003, and Rathna Gaming. Further, the brother of the accused, KC Thippeswamy, is operating three business entities from Dubai: Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, Prime9Technologies,” sources said, adding that these entities are related to call centres and gaming business of K C Veerendra.