The Enforcement Directorate (ED) additionally seized the Juhu flat belonging to Raj Kundra’s spouse and Bollywood actor, Shilpa Shetty, together with their Pune bungalow.
Raj Kundra made headlines but once more, this time for all of the mistaken causes. On Thursday (April 18), Raj Kundra, alongside together with his spouse and actor Shilpa Shetty, landed in authorized bother when their property value Rs 97.79 Crore was seized by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) beneath the Prevention of Cash Laundering Act (PMLA). As per the small print shared by the ED, a residential flat in Juhu, Mumbai, which is beneath the identify of Shilpa Shetty, a residential bungalow in Pune, and fairness shares in Kundra’s identify have been hooked up.
The attachments are a part of the Enforcement Directorate’s measures in a case involving purported Bitcoin funding fraud, which is at present beneath investigation with Raj Kundra’s involvement. A number of FIRs had been registered by Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police towards Variable Tech Pte Ltd, (late) Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj, and different multiple-level advertising (MLM) brokers.
Let’s perceive what the Rs 6,600 Crore Funding Fraud Case is about.
In 2017, Bitcoin was a brand new supply of funding out there and attracted a number of traders. All these traders got the assure of large positive factors by Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, and Mahender Bhardwaj. Later, the group of people started with the Acquire Bitcoin Ponzi scheme via an organization named Variable Tech Pte Ltd.
Based on the small print revealed through the investigations, this group of males collected Bitcoins value Rs 6,600 crore (on the time) from overly-trustful traders. The promoters of the corporate promised the traders to make use of Bitcoin mining to earn returns of 10% per thirty days in crypto belongings. To make it simpler to know, the group of males initially gave traders the excessive returns that had been promised. Nevertheless, later, they began to default.
Why, When, and How Did ED Start an Motion on The Case?
Following the onset of defaults, sure people who had been purportedly victims of the fraud approached the police. Subsequently, in 2018-19, each the Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police initiated quite a few FIRs. Felony proceedings had been commenced towards Variable Tech Pte Ltd, together with its promoters Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, and Mahender Bhardwaj, alongside varied multi-level advertising (MLM) brokers, for his or her alleged involvement in funding fraud.
On the idea of those instances, an Enforcement Case Info Report (ECIR) was registered by the ED, which is equal to an FIR. Publish this, ED started a cash laundering investigation. ED claims that the traders had been cheated by the corporate promoters they usually even hid ill-gotten Bitcoin in obscure on-line wallets.
In 2018, Amit Bhardwaj and Vivek Bharadwaj had been put behind bars and at present are in judicial custody. Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahender Bhardwaj are but to be arrested.
How Was Raj kundra Concerned within the Bitcoin Case?
Through the investigation of the cash laundering case, the ED discovered that Ripu Sudan Kundra, alias Raj Kundra, allegedly acquired 285 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj. Raj needed to arrange a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine.
The Bitcoins in query had been purportedly obtained from positive factors collected by Amit Bhardwaj from unsuspecting traders. Nonetheless, as per the Enforcement Directorate (ED), the transaction didn’t come to fruition, leaving Kundra with possession of 285 Bitcoins, at present valued at over Rs 150 crore.
Previous to taking motion towards Raj Kundra, the ED had seized properties value Rs 69 crore belonging to different suspects within the case. Kundra was initially interrogated by the ED in June 2018.