Karnataka High Court Issues Notice To ED On Plea Seeking Release Of Congress MLA Arrested In 'Illegal Betting' Case

The Karnataka High Court on Wednesday (September 3) issued notice to the Enforcement Directorate on a plea filed by wife of Congress MLA K.C Veerendra, seeking to declare his arrest as illegal, arbitrary and violative of his fundamental rights under Article 19 & 21 and to release him.

Justice M I Arun issued notice on R D Chaitra's plea (wife) and posted the matter for hearing on September 8.

The plea seeks to declare that the arrest of K.C. Veerendra, as illegal and to direct Veerendra's release, arrested pursuant to the issuance of the grounds of arrest made on 23.08.2025.

Veerendra was arrested in connection with an alleged illegal online and offline betting racket. He was arrested under provisions of the PMLA.

According to the ED, the accused is allegedly involved in betting operations which spans across multiple states. The agency suspects that the seized assets are linked to proceeds of crime generated through the illegal betting network.

Counsel appearing for petitioner argued that the challenge is on the legality of grounds of arrest furnished on the score that on the day when the grounds of arrest were given those cases which form the basis did not exist.

"What will be the consequence of that is the question. My arrest would go bad because it would amount to no grounds of arrest at all," he said. 

Counsel for ED Madhukar Deshpande sought time to take instruction and file his reply. He informed the court that the police custody of the accused would be coming to an end on Thursday and he would be produced before the trial court.

"The sufficiency of grounds of arrest has been looked into by the special court and then he has been remanded to our custody. It is coming to an end tomorrow. Moreover, judicial review of the sufficiency of grounds arrest is very limited," Deshpande said. 

Case Title: R D Chaitra AND Directorate of Enforcement

Senior Counsels HS Chandramouli & Kiran Javali for Adv Prateek Chandramouli (For petitioner)

Case No: WP 26754/2025