The Enforcement Directorate (ED) arrested Karnataka Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra, also known as "Puppy", on Saturday in connection with an alleged illegal online and offline betting case. The arrest occurred in Gangtok, Sikkim, where Veerendra was reportedly planning to lease land for a casino.

The arrest follows a two-day nationwide raid across 31 locations, including Bengaluru, Hubli, Mumbai, Jodhpur, Goa, and Gangtok. During the raids, the ED seized ₹12 crore in cash, including approximately ₹1 crore in foreign currency. Furthermore, they seized gold jewelry worth ₹6 crore, 10 kg of silver, and four vehicles. The ED has also frozen 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers.

According to the ED, Veerendra operated several illegal online betting platforms, including King567 and Raja567. His brother, K.C. Thippeswamy, allegedly managed the backend operations through three Dubai-based companies: Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, and Prime9 Technologies. These companies are said to have provided gaming-related call center services to facilitate the betting operations. Authorities suspect that these Dubai-based operations were central to laundering and layering illicit funds internationally.

The ED also conducted searches at five casinos in Goa, including Big Daddy Casino, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy's Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino, and Puppy's Casino Gold. Property documents were seized from the premises of Veerendra's brother, K.C. Nagaraj, and his son, Pruthvi N Raj.

Following his arrest in Gangtok, Veerendra was produced before a designated magistrate, and a transit remand was obtained to produce him before the jurisdictional court in Bengaluru. The Bengaluru zone of the ED is currently investigating the case. The ED believes the seized materials reveal a complex web of cash layering and fund management involving both domestic and international actors.