KC Veerenra, a Congress MLA from Karnataka, has been arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on Saturday as part of an ongoing money laundering investigation. The arrest followed extensive raids conducted on Friday by the ED at various locations. The raids resulted in the seizure of over ₹12 crore in cash, along with substantial amounts of gold and silver. Authorities also recovered more than ₹1 crore in foreign currency. The ED’s investigation, which took place on August 22 and 23, uncovered an illegal betting and online gaming operation allegedly involving Veerenra and his associates. The ED conducted raids at 31 locations, including Gangtok, Chitradurga, Bengaluru, Hubli, Jodhpur, Mumbai, and Goa. In Goa, the raids targeted five major casinos: Papi’s Casino Gold, Ocean Reverse Casino, Papi’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino, and Big Daddy Casino. During the raids, the ED seized approximately ₹12 crore in cash, including ₹1 crore in foreign currency, along with nearly ₹6 crore in gold, 10 kilograms of silver, and four luxury vehicles. In addition to the assets seized, 17 bank accounts and two lockers were frozen. The investigation revealed that Veerenra was reportedly operating online betting sites, including King567 and Raja567. His brother, KC Thippeswamy, managed the operation from Dubai through Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime 9 Technologies. Another brother, KC Nagaraj, and his son, Prithvi N. Raj, were also implicated. The ED found important documents and evidence suggesting attempts to disguise the illegal earnings through different financial strategies. Veerenra was apprehended in Gangtok, where he was with his associates in an attempt to lease a land casino. On Saturday, he appeared before a local court, and the ED secured a transit remand to transfer him to a Bengaluru court.
