Congress MP arrested in India for allegedly running offshore betting companies

A member of the Legislative Assembly from Chitradurga constituency was arrested on August 23, 2025, as part of a major crackdown on illegal online gambling platforms.

According to the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Virendra or "Puppy" was involved in running a network of offshore betting shops that included King567, Raja567 and others.

From 5:00 a.m. on August 21 to 1:00 a.m. on August 22, law enforcement officers conducted searches at 31 locations linked to Virendra and others involved, including the MP's son and brother. Five casinos in Goa were also searched: Puppy's Casino Gold, Ocean Rivers Casino, Puppy's Casino Pride, Ocean 7 Casino and Big Daddy Casino.

During the raid, Rs 12 crore in cash, gold worth $700,000, 10 kg of silver, four luxury cars and property documents were seized. Seventeen bank accounts and two lockers were seized.

"A large number of property-related documents were seized from the premises of Virendra's brother KS Nagaraj and his son Pruthvi N Raj," the ED said.

Investigators believe that another brother of the MP, KS Thippeswamy, in possible collaboration with other family members, runs Diamond Softech, TRS Technologies and Prime9 Technologies, which are believed to be involved in call centre and betting operations.