How did Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra allegedly amass over Rs 2,000 crore in an illegal betting scam?

Bengaluru, Sep 3 (NationPress) The Directorate of Enforcement (ED) is investigating an illegal betting operation allegedly involving Karnataka Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra and his associates, who reportedly amassed over Rs 2,000 crore through a single gateway from various websites in a brief period.

The ED's Bengaluru Zonal Office conducted searches on September 2 at multiple locations in Bengaluru and Challekere under the provisions of the PMLA, 2002, concerning the case against MLA K.C. Veerendra and his associates for deceiving the public through illegal online betting.

Search operations spanned 31 locations in Challekere, Bengaluru, Panaji, Gangtok, Jodhpur, Hubli, and Mumbai, according to the ED.

Previous searches uncovered Rs 12 crore in cash, gold jewelry valued at Rs 6 crore, approximately 10 kg of silver items, along with four vehicles.

Further inquiries revealed that the accused operates several online betting platforms, including King567, Raja567, Lion567, and others, as stated by the ED.

The ED also found that various gateways were employed to facilitate payments collected via these websites.

According to the ED, the funds amassed from these sites managed by Veerendra and his associates through a single gateway alone exceeds Rs 2,000 crore within a short timeframe.

Additionally, K.C. Thippeswamy, the accused's brother, is reportedly running three business entities in Dubai — Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime Technologies — linked to Veerendra’s call center services and gaming operations.

Suspicions have arisen that numerous other Dubai-based companies, like Castle Rock Project Management Services and Lascaux Core Project Management Services, have been established by Veerendra in collaboration with Thippeswamy, Pruthvi N Raj, Anil Gowda, and others.

The ED's investigation further disclosed that various middlemen provide mule accounts to the operators of these gaming platforms, including Appu, alias Pruthvi N Raj (Veerendra's nephew), who utilizes them to gather funds from multiple players.

These transactions involve layering player deposits through escrow accounts of gateways and TSPs, subsequently settling in mule accounts controlled by the gaming site owners, according to the ED.

Funds are further siphoned off through various means, including hawala transactions.

The ED noted, "MLA Veerendra and his associates in Dubai are managing several gaming websites using various gateways and fintech service providers to layer funds and disguise their illicit activities as legitimate e-commerce operations."

The ED's statement indicated that during the searches, five high-end vehicles, including a Mercedes Benz with VIP numbers 0003, KA 50 MB 0003, KA 09 ML 0003, KA 53 MD 0003, KA 53 MH 0003, KA 16 P 0003, and another Mercedes Benz with VIP number 5267, KA 02 MU 5267, were confiscated.

Moreover, Rs 55 crore were frozen, including Rs 40.69 crore across nine bank accounts and one Demat account of MLA Veerendra, in addition to Rs 14.46 crore in 262 mule accounts recovered from one of the accused’s gateways utilized for routing funds collected by multiple gaming websites operated by Veerendra and his associates, as reported by the ED.

The searches and tracing of Proceeds of Crime (POC) were conducted during the ED custody of the primary accused, MLA Chitradurga city Veerendra, according to the ED.

"Previously, on August 28, the ED obtained a seven-day extension of custody for Veerendra based on documentary evidence linking him to the generation and laundering of POC."

An ECIR was recorded earlier against Veerendra and others concerning defrauding the public in illegal online betting cases, as stated by the ED.

Ongoing investigations are underway.