R.D. Chaitra Vs Directorate of Enforcement (Karnataka High Court)
Background: Smt. R.D. Chaitra, wife of K.C. Veerendra, filed this writ petition challenging her husband’s arrest by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) under Section 19 of the PMLA, 2002, claiming it was illegal, arbitrary, and without jurisdiction since the arrest was made in Sikkim while the ECIR was registered in Bengaluru.
ED’s Case:
- ED registered ECIR/BGZO/19/2025 based on multiple FIRs alleging illegal online cricket betting, gambling, & money-laundering across Karnataka, Goa, Dubai, and Sri Lanka.
- Veerendra was accused of running betting portals like King567, Playexch567, India24bet, Raja567, etc., and routing proceeds through companies such as Simtech IT Solutions, Fonepaisa, JOYPAY, ABH Infrastructures, and foreign entities in Cyprus & Curacao.
- Searches unearthed ₹10 crore in cash, gold worth ₹5.5 crore, silver, vehicles, and property documents, showing laundering of hundreds of crores of betting proceeds.
Petitioner’s Arguments:
- Arrest from Gangtok was without territorial jurisdiction.
- No independent “reasons to believe” recorded by the ED officer.
- Procedural safeguards under Supreme Court rulings like Pankaj Bansal & D.K. Basu were allegedly violated.
- The alleged acts pre-dated the PMLA schedule and could not attract Section 3.
ED’s Defence:
The arrest was based on detailed reasons, duly communicated to the arrestee & his wife; Section 19 was correctly invoked as custodial interrogation was required to trace proceeds of crime. PMLA has nationwide jurisdiction.
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