PANAJI
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Friday carried out searches at five casinos and their offices in Panaji and Calangute in connection with a money laundering probe linked to an alleged illegal betting racket against Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra Puppy.
The raids, conducted with the assistance of the Goa police, began at around 5 am and continued till late hours.
Veerendra, 50, along with his brother K C Thippeswamy and others, is under investigation for the betting scam in Karnataka. The probe has triggered searches at over 30 locations in Chitradurga district, Bengaluru, Hubballi, Jodhpur, Mumbai and Goa. The MLA is suspected of having stakes in casino businesses in the State.
“The searches are in connection with illegal online and offline betting operations. Veerendra is accused of running websites such as King567, Raja567, Puppy's003 and Rathna Gaming, while his brother is alleged to be operating business entities from Dubai, including Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9Technologies. The material seized from Goa is part of the ongoing probe,” an ED source said.
It is also learnt that the casino employees were quizzed by the raiding team and their statements were recorded in the presence of witnesses. The ED officials, however, remained unavailable for comment.
