BENGALURU: The City Civil and Sessions Court on Sunday remanded Chitradurga Congress MLA KC Veerendra in the custody of the Directorate of Enforcement (ED) till August 28.
Veerendra was arrested in Gangtok, Sikkim, on Saturday by the ED in connection with alleged online and offline betting and money laundering activities. He was produced before a local judicial magistrate there for a transit remand and was brought to Bengaluru by flight late at night. Tight security arrangements were made at Terminal 2 of Kempegowda International Airport.
Before being produced at the judge’s residence in Koramangala in Bengaluru, Veerendra was taken for a medical examination at Bowring and Lady Curzon hospital. The ED sought 14 days of custody, but the court granted custody till August 28.
Earlier, ED had carried out searches at 31 locations linked to Veerendra, including six in Chitradurga district, 10 in Bengaluru, eight in Goa, three in Jodhpur, two in Mumbai, and one each in Hubballi and Gangtok, for two days. During the raids, officials seized about Rs 1 crore worth of foreign currency, gold ornaments valued at Rs 6 crore, 10 kg of silver articles, Rs 12 crore in cash, and four vehicles, all under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002. The search revealed that the accused was running several online betting sites. In addition, 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers were frozen. Several property-related documents belonging to Veerendra’s brother, KC Nagaraj, and his son, Prithvi N Raj, were also seized.