Chitradurga, 22 August (H.S.):

The Enforcement Directorate officials raided the house of Congress MLA K.C. Veerendra in Chitradurga, Karnataka, early this morning.

The ED team is conducting searches at four houses, including the residence of K.C. Veerendra and his brothers K.C. Nagaraja and K.C. Thippeswamy, in Challakere town of Chitradurga district. More than 40 ED officials who arrived in private vehicles conducted the searchoperations.

This raid has significance in connection with previous cases. On 11 December 2016, when the Income Tax Department officials raided Veerendra's house, they had found Rs 5 crore in cash and 30 kg of gold in the bathroom.

Recently, raids have been conducted in the wake of allegations that illegal money was being transferred to gaming apps through several companies, including Ratna Gold, Ratna Multi Source, Puppy Technology, Ratna Gaming Solutions, owned by K.C. Veerendra.

ED searches are underway in a total of 17 places including Challakere in Chitradurga district, Bengaluru, and Goa. It is learnt that currently K.C.Veerendra is abroad.

Hindusthan Samachar / Rakesh Mahadevappa