Congress MLA Veerendra 'Puppy' taken to Bengaluru by ED in betting-linked money laundering probe

ED officials flew the Congress MLA from Sikkim to Bengaluru for interrogation in a money laundering case with raids conducted across multiple states and several casinos.

Bengaluru: The Enforcement Directorate (ED) sleuths on Sunday brought Congress MLA K C Veerendra 'Puppy' to Bengaluru for further investigation into a money laundering case linked to illegal betting. According to sources, the MLA, who is in ED custody, was flown in from Sikkim on Sunday morning.

A special ED team took him into custody upon his arrival at the airport. To prevent any untoward incident, strict security was in place at Terminal-2 of the Kempegowda International Airport here Officials swiftly moved Veerendra away from the media, taking him to an undisclosed location for interrogation to unearth his local ties.

Searches were conducted by the central agency in multiple states as part of an alleged illegal betting-linked money laundering case against Puppy (50), his brother and some others on Friday. At least 30 locations in Chitradurga district, Bengaluru and Hubballi in Karnataka, Jodhpur (Rajasthan), Mumbai and Goa were covered under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), the sources said.

Five casinos in Goa named Puppy's Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy's Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino were also raided, they said.

As per the ED sources, the searches were conducted in a case related to 'illegal' online and offline betting. Veerendra is accused of running online betting sites like King567, Raja567, Puppy's003, Rathna Gaming etc., and his brother K C Thippeswamy is alleged to be 'operating' three business entities from Dubai named Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9Technologies.

These entities are related to the call centre services and the gaming business of Veerendra. The premises of Anil Gowda, brother of Kusuma H (who unsuccessfully contested the Rajarajeshwarinagar assembly seat on a Congress ticket), in Bengaluru were also covered, as per the sources.