A special court in Mumbai on Monday summoned businessperson Raj Kundra in connection with the Rs 2,000 crore GainBitcoin cryptocurrency scam case, in which he has been named as an accused by the Enforcement Directorate, The Indian Express reported.
The summons were also issued to Dubai-based businessperson Rajesh Satija. Both have been directed to appear before the court on January 19, PTI reported.
Special judge RB Rote took cognisance of a supplementary chargesheet filed by the Enforcement Directorate and directed that Kundra and Satija be summoned for offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.
Kundra and Satija were named in the case in September in the supplementary chargesheet filed by the probe agency in the case.
Amit Bhardwaj, the promoter and founder of GainBitcoin, has been accused of cheating investors by promising high returns through cryptocurrency mining, The Indian Express reported.
According to the Delhi Police, Bhardwaj had allegedly set up a multi-level marketing scam by luring investors to give him bitcoins with the promise of higher returns. He never gave the returns and instead fled the country, the police said.
He was eventually traced to Bangkok and arrested in April 2018.
According to the Enforcement Directorate, Kundra received 285 bitcoins from Bhardwaj, which the agency has described as proceeds of crime, The Indian Express reported.
The agency alleged that the bitcoins were transferred for setting up a bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine, a plan that did not materialise, and that Kundra continues to be in possession of the cryptocurrency, currently valued at more than Rs 150 crore, PTI reported.
In his statement to the agency, Kundra said that Bhardwaj had approached him through social media and that they had discussions related to bitcoins. He claimed that he acted only as a mediator for the transfer of the 285 bitcoins on behalf of an Israeli friend, The Indian Express reported.
However, the Enforcement Directorate said Kundra did not provide “any underlying documentary evidence to prove the same”, PTI reported.
The agency further alleged that despite several opportunities since 2018, Kundra failed to provide wallet addresses to trace the bitcoins, stating that the phone he was using at the time had been damaged, the news agency reported.
The agency has alleged that this amounts to a deliberate attempt to conceal the proceeds of crime.
The agency in 2024 provisionally attached assets worth Rs 97.7 crore, including five residential flats in Juhu valued at Rs 82.7 crore owned by Kundra and his wife actor Shilpa Shetty, and a bungalow near Pawna dam in Pune valued at Rs 11.1 crore, The Indian Express reported.
The agency alleged that Kundra and Shetty entered into a “sale transaction” of the Juhu flats without any change in ownership, with money transferred between their joint accounts to shield the properties from attachment.
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