The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Karnataka Congress MLA KC Veerendra on Saturday (23rd August) in connection with an illegal betting case. The MLA, who is also known as ‘puppy’, was arrested in Gangtok, Sikkim. Puppy’s arrest comes a day after the ED raided multiple locations linked to him. A transit remand has reportedly been obtained by the officials for bringing him to Bengaluru for further investigation.
On Friday (22nd August), the ED conducted searches at several locations in different parts of the country, including Gangtok, Chitradurga District, Bangalore City, Hubballi, Jodhpur and Mumbai under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The probe agency reportedly seized ₹12 crore in cash, including ₹1 crore in foreign currency comprising bundles of 100 US dollars, 10 and 20 British pounds, 500 dirhams and 100 and 50 euro currency notes.
ED arrested KC Veerendra, Karnataka's MLA from Chitradurga constituency, from Gangktok in connection with illegal online and offline betting case and recovered amount of approximately Rs 12 crore in cash, including approximately Rs 1 crore in foreign currency, gold jewellery… pic.twitter.com/BlHzQdStkd
— ANI (@ANI) August 23, 2025
In addition to that, the agency also recovered gold jewellery worth ₹6 crore, silver articles worth 10 kgs, international casino membership/reward cards – MGM casino, Metropolitan Casino, Bellagio casino, Marina casino, Casino Jewel. Multiple credit and debit cards of various banks, luxury hospitality membership cards of Taj, Hyatt and the Leela, and 4 cars. The ED blocked 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers belonging to the MLA.
As per reports, ED also seized several property-related documents from the premises of the MLA’s brother, KC Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj. Veerendra’s another brother, KC Thippeswamy, and Pruthvi N Raj allegedly handled his operations of online gaming from Dubai. “Many property related documents were also seized from the premises of Veerendra’s brother K C Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj. His other associates like another brother K C Thippeswamy are handling operations of online gaming from Dubai,” the probe agency reportedly said.
The agency also reportedly conducted searches at the Congress MLA’s properties in Goa, including Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino. An ED statement said that the Congress MLA has been running several online betting apps. “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, viz, Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime9Technologies, related to the call centre services and gaming business of KC Veerendra Puppy,” the ED statement said.
The name of the 50-year-old MLA from Chitradurga emerged in an illegal online and offline betting case. According to ED, he had gone to Sikkim to lease a casino.
