An advocate, who has been identified as a business partner of arrested Karnataka MLA K C Veerendra Puppy in his online gaming and betting businesses, was in contact with gaming companies abroad and directed the release of Euro 31,000 in 2021 from a firm where he was a director to an online betting firm based abroad, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has alleged.
The ED had earlier issued a summons on August 24 to the advocate, identified as Anil Gowda H, in a money laundering case linked to online betting apps and gaming companies of Puppy.
The summons has been challenged in the Karnataka High Court by Gowda as a violation of his rights as a professional advocate.
The Karnataka HC on Monday reserved its orders on the plea by Anil Gowda to stop the ED investigations against him and issued an interim direction to the ED to refrain from taking coercive action against the advocate during the pendency of the verdict in the case.
During the arguments on Monday, Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamath, who appeared on behalf of the ED, stated that a summons issued to an individual by the ED does not lead to a cause of action.
“During the course of a search, certain mobile phones of the petitioner were seized, and the examination of these phones has disclosed extensive correspondence with betting app service providers based abroad and in India. This requires investigation,” the ASG told the HC.
“We have already started an investigation based on a predicate offence which indicates the existence of a very large-scale betting app operation,” the ASG said, arguing the ED has the power to seek information regarding a crime registered in accordance with the law.
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“Along with the main accused (Puppy), he (Gowda) has created two firms in India and two in Dubai, and these firms have correspondence with betting app providers, and they have transferred about 31,000 Euros,” the ASG argued.
According to the ED arguments, an accountant in a company in which both Puppy and Gowda were associated had revealed to the ED that cheques were issued on the instruction of Gowda.
“We are summoning him for his business involvement, not because of his profession. He enrolled as a lawyer in 2022, but he opened certain companies in Dubai in 2021,” the ED said, adding that “our initial investigations indicate he has been involved in conducting betting app operations in India.”
“Prima facie, it has been found that the petitioner is connected with the proceeds of the crime generated by the principal accused (Puppy) and others. Ultimately, the proceeds of crime have been traced to the accounts of ABH Infrastructure and AVSVA Enterprises,” the ED has stated by citing links between Gowda and the firms of the Congress MLA.
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The ED said that Gowda was paid Euro 25,000 through the account of AVSVA Enterprises to explore gaming business opportunities abroad.
Senior Counsel Vikas Pahwa, who appeared for Anil Gowda, argued that the correspondence by Gowda with betting firms abroad was part of his legal services to the firms of Veerendra Puppy and his family members, who were involved in the betting business.
“You don’t have the power under Section 50 (of the PMLA) to call a lawyer for investigation. That is a larger question pending before the Supreme Court,” the senior counsel argued. All the questions raised by the ED “are pertaining to the role as a lawyer, an adviser to the co-accused company,” he added.
Advocate Anil Gowda H, whose properties were also searched by the ED on August 22 and 23 in the crackdown on the casino and gaming businesses of K C Veerendra, has claimed that the summons issued to him is a violation of Supreme Court directives against allowing criminal proceedings against lawyers without judicial oversight.
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Gowda, who is the brother of Kusuma H, the losing Congress candidate from the R R Nagar assembly seat in Bengaluru in the 2023 state polls, has called for the HC to declare the ED probe “illegal and bad in law” and to direct the ED not to take coercive action against him.
The ED earlier told the court that Congress MLA Veerendra Puppy has stated that his ties with Gowda were not for professional legal services. The ED argued that Gowda was associated with the businesses of the MLA before enrolling as an advocate.
The money laundered through the betting, gaming businesses of the MLA was handled in a personal capacity by Gowda, the ED has alleged. The ED has claimed that Anil Gowda received funds through Diamond Softech, AVSVA Enterprises and ABH Infrastructure, which are associated with Veerendra.
The counsels for Gowda have claimed that he is not associated with Diamond Softech, that he was initially a partner in AVSVA Enterprises but later quit the firm in 2022 and that he draws a salary as advocate for ABH Infrastructure.
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ED searches leading to MLA’s arrest
On August 22 and 23, the ED carried out searches at 31 locations linked to K C Veerendra, the Chitradurga MLA of the Congress, as well as his brothers and associates. The ED also arrested Veerendra in Gangtok, where he was on a business visit.
“Incriminating material seized during search proceedings indicates complex layering of cash and other funds. To further identify the proceeds of crime, K C Veerendra was arrested from Gangtok on 23.08.2025 and produced before the Judicial Magistrate, Gangtok, Sikkim and transit remand was obtained for producing him before the jurisdictional court in Bangalore,” the ED said.
The searches on the properties of the Chitradurga MLA were linked to “the matter of illegal online and offline betting”, the ED said in an official statement on August 24. The searches on the Congress MLA’s gambling and gaming businesses came close on the heels of Parliament passing a bill to ban online real money-based gaming activities.
“Search has revealed that the accused is running several online betting sites in the name of King567, Raja567, etc. Further, the brother K C Thippeswamy of the accused is operating 3 business entities from Dubai viz. Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies, Prime9Technologies which are related to the call centre services and gaming business of K C Veerendra,” ED said.
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The searches were conducted at Gangtok in Sikkim; Chitradurga, Bengaluru and Hubli in Karnataka; Jodhpur in Rajasthan; Mumbai in Maharashtra; and Goa. The searches in Goa were at five casinos owned by the Congress MLA, including Puppy’s Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy’s Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino, and Big Daddy Casino.
ED has reported the seizure of “approximately Rs 12 Crore in cash, including approximately Rs 1 Crore in foreign currency, Gold Jewellery worth Rs 6 Crore (approx.), Silver articles around 10 kgs, along with four vehicles…” The ED also froze 17 bank accounts and two bank lockers.
Who is K C Veerendra?
K C Veerendra is considered to be a close associate of Karnataka Deputy CM D K Shivakumar. He is the son-in-law of Kannada film actor Doddanna and was arrested in 2016 by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for attempting to launder money during the demonetisation period. He was arrested by the CBI after Income Tax officials seized Rs 5.7 crore of cash in new Rs 2,000 notes in a secret chamber in the bathroom of his Chitradurga home. The case was later closed for want of incriminating evidence of illegal sources for the funds.