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Bengaluru, October 15 (IANS) The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday rejected a petition seeking the release of Congress MLA KC Veerendra alias Veerendra Pappi. MLA Virender is in jail in an illegal betting case by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and is facing money laundering charges.
A bench headed by Justice MI Arun passed this order after considering the petition of MLA Virendra’s wife. The petition claimed that the arrest of MLA Virendra is illegal, arbitrary and a violation of his fundamental rights.
The bench further said that if a bail plea is submitted by the accused, it can be considered in accordance with law. If the B Report (closure report) is accepted by the trial court, the petitioner can later file a petition to quash it.
Senior advocate Siddharth Dave, representing Virendra’s wife, argued that between the filing of the Enforcement Case Information Report (ECIR) in July and Virendra’s arrest in Sikkim, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) never issued a single summons to the MLA under Section 50 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
Dave said that the grounds on which MLA Virendra was arrested were not premeditated crimes and the ED had no valid grounds at the time of the arrest.
Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamat, representing the ED, submitted that MLA Virendra is involved in the process of creation, concealment and other elements mentioned in Section 3 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) in relation to the proceeds of crime. Preliminary investigation revealed that the accused operated casinos in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Georgia and had also established betting platforms in the name of King567 and other 567 gaming universes.
The accused earned huge proceeds of crime through illegal activities. The accused has a house in Dubai, Goa and this is established from the statements of the accused in support of evidence.
Investigators claim that, considering how big the operation was and the number of online games run since 2021, the money earned from illegal activities (proceeds of crime) is more than Rs 2,000 crore. This figure is based on transaction records from only one payment gateway. Since this is from just one source, investigators believe that there may be even more illicit money involved, and hence, further investigation is required to uncover the full extent of the proceeds of crime, the ED counsel submitted.
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has attached assets worth over Rs 150 crore in the illegal online betting case against Congress MLA KC Veerendra.
ED officials seized 40 kg 24 carat gold ingots worth Rs 50.33 crore from two different lockers in Challakere. With this latest action, the total seizure in the case has crossed Rs 150 crore. Earlier, the ED had attached or seized assets worth Rs 103 crore, which included 21 kg of gold bars, cash, jewelery and luxury vehicles.
–IANS
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