Mumbai: The Directorate of Enforcement has provisionally attached properties worth Rs 97.79 crore belonging to Raj Kundra under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002, an official said.
The attached properties include a residential flat in Juhu, a residential bungalow in Pune, and equity shares, as per the ED officials.
"Directorate of Enforcement (ED), Mumbai Zonal Office has provisionally attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs. 97.79 Crore belonging to Ripu Sudan Kundra, aka Raj Kundra, under the provisions of Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002. The attached properties include Residential flat situated in Juhu presently in the name of Smt. Shilpa Shetty, a residential bungalow situated in Pune and Equity shares in the name of Raj Kundra," the ED said.
ED initiated investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police against Variable Tech Pte Ltd, Late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and number of MLM agents, wherein it has been alleged that they had collected huge amounts of funds in the form of Bitcoins (worth Rs 6600 Crore in 2017 itself) from the gullible public with the false promises of 10 per cent per month return in the form of Bitcoins.
The collected Bitcoins were supposed to be utilised for Bitcoin mining and investors were supposed to get huge returns in Crypto assets. But the promoters cheated the investors and have been concealing the ill-gotten Bitcoins in obscure online wallets, the ED said.
"ED investigation revealed that Raj Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from the master mind and promoter of Gain Bitcoin Ponzi Scam, Amit Bhardwaj for setting up Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. The said Bitcoins were sourced from proceeds of crime collected by Amit Bhardwaj from gullible investors. Since the deal didn't materialise, Kundra is still in possession and enjoyment of 285 bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than Rs. 150 Crore," the ED said.
Earlier, multiple Search operations were carried out in this case and 3 people were arrested, namely Simpy Bhardwaj on December 17, 2023, Nitin Gaur on December 29, 2023, and Nikhil Mahajan on January 16, 2023. All of them are presently in judicial custody as of date, the ED said.
"The main accused, Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahendra Bhardwaj, are still absconding. Earlier, ED had attached properties worth Rs 69 crore. The Prosecution Complaint in this has been filed on 11.06.2019 and Supplementary Prosecution Complaint on 14.02.2024. The Hon'ble Special PMLA Court has taken cognizance of the same," the ED said.
Further investigation is underway. (ANI)
