K'taka Cong MLA, family purchased foreign travel tickets using betting funds: ED
New Delhi (PTI): Arrested Karnataka Congress MLA K C Veerendra, his family members and associates booked international travel tickets worth crores of rupees and these were financed through a network of "mule" accounts linked to proceeds from online betting websites, the Enforcement Directorate alleged on Tuesday.
"The evidence suggests that the funds used for these high-value transactions were diverted from illicit online activities and funnelled through multiple intermediary accounts to obscure their origin," the federal probe agency claimed in a statement.
Veerendra is being investigated as the "prime accused" in a money laundering case linked to alleged cheating of public through illegal online betting.
The 50-year-old Chitradurga legislator was arrested late last month by the ED from Sikkim where he had gone on a business trip to lease a casino.
His legal team has told the courts that the charges made by the ED against him were baseless.
The ED also conducted fresh searches in this case on September 6 at Challakere (Chitradurga district) and seized a variety of gold articles worth a total Rs 24 crore.
This included 24-carat gold bullion weighing 21.43 kg, 11 units of gold coated silver bars weighing 10.98 kg and about 1 kg gold jewellery.
The agency did not specify from whose premises these gold items were seized by it under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).
"After considering this seizure, cumulative seizure of proceeds of crime in this case has crossed Rs 100 crore as on date," the agency said.
The ED has accused the MLA of "running" several online betting sites in the name of King567, Raja567, Lion567, Play567, Playwin567, etc. It has been claimed that several payment gateways were used for routing payments collected through these websites.
"ED investigation revealed that K C Veerendra, his family members and associates have booked several international travel tickets worth crores of rupees, financed through a network of mule accounts linked to proceeds from online betting websites," it alleged.
A number of luxury vehicles, allegedly used by Veerendra and his family, have been found by the ED during the multiple rounds of searches conducted by it in this case.
A Mercedes Benz registered in the name of ABH Infrastructures of Anil Gowda and a Range Rover "funded" by a person named Gulshan Khattar of Fonepaisa were also found, the ED said.
Gowda has challenged the ED summons issued to him in this case before the Karnataka High Court stating the notice was a violation of his rights as a professional advocate of Veerendra.
The ED had contended before the high court that it summoned Gowda not in his capacity as a lawyer but because of his business involvement in the case.
The court has reserved its order while grating interim protection to Gowda-- brother of Kusuma H, the losing Congress candidate from the R R Nagar assembly seat during the 2023 assembly polls-- from any coercive ED action against him.
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Karnataka HC quashes BJP's defamation case against Rahul Gandhi
Bengaluru (PTI): The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday quashed the defamation proceedings initiated by the BJP against top Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The case was filed in 2023, when BJP was in power in Karnataka, following a "corruption rate card" published by the then opposition Congress to claim large scale irregularities prevailing in the state under the saffron party's rule.
Along with Gandhi, now Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha, the BJP had accused the then Karnataka LoP Siddaramaiah and Congress state president D K Shivakumar.
Presently Siddaramaiah is the Chief Minister and Shivakumar is his deputy.
Challenging the defamation case, Gandhi had approached the High Court stating that the continuation of the case would be an abuse of law.
The bench of Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav allowed the petition.
The complainant said that Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar had conspired together to defame the BJP government and made baseless allegation and insinuation.
