The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized properties worth Rs. 97.79 crore belonging to Raj Kundra, husband of actress Shilpa Shetty, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The ED attached movable and immovable properties valued at Rs. 97.79 crore on Thursday, including a residential property in Juhu registered under Shilpa Shetty’s name, a residential house in Pune, and equity shares owned by Raj Kundra.
The action follows several First Information Reports (FIRs) filed by the Delhi Police and the Maharashtra Police against Variable Tech Pte Ltd and other MLM agents. These FIRs served as the basis for the ED’s probe, which revealed that enormous sums of money, including Bitcoins worth Rs. 6,600 crore in 2017 alone, were allegedly collected from the public under false promises of providing a 10% monthly return in Bitcoins.
Raj Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj, the mastermind and promoter of the Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scam, for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. These Bitcoins were obtained from criminal proceeds collected from naive investors. The ED stated that Kundra is still in possession of and enjoying the 285 Bitcoins, currently valued at more than Rs. 150 crore, because the sale didn’t materialize.
As part of the investigation, three individuals, including Simpy Bhardwaj, Nitin Gaur, and Nikhil Mahajan, were taken into custody following search operations. However, primary suspects Ajay and Mahendra Bhardwaj remain at large. The ED revealed that the operators of the Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scheme defrauded investors and hid the fraudulently obtained Bitcoins in secret online wallets.