Amid the Maharashtra elections, the Enforcement Directorate (ED) has intensified its probe into the alleged Bitcoin scam and conducted a search operation and questioning on Wednesday at the premises of Gaurav Mehta, an employee of the auditing firm Sarathi Associates, in connection with the alleged Bitcoin scam. The raid took place in Raipur, Chhattisgarh.
Twelve hours before the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP made serious allegations against NCP (Sharad Pawar) leader Supriya Sule and senior Congress leader Nana Patole regarding Bitcoin manipulation.
Former Maharashtra IPS officer Ravindra Nath Patil had accused Sule and Patole of being involved in cryptocurrency-related fraud in 2018. The BJP has used Patil’s allegations to put Sule and Patole in the spotlight and raised questions about their involvement in the alleged attempts to en-cash bitcoins to influence the state elections, claiming it poses a serious question on the conduct of polls in a free and fair manner.
Denying the allegations, Sule accused the BJP of spreading misinformation. In an X post, she stated “Familiar tactics of spreading false information to manipulate voters are being resorted to, a night before polling day. We have filed a criminal complaint with the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the Cyber Crime Department against these baseless allegations.” Patole also refuted the claims, accusing the BJP of tarnishing his and Congress’s reputation. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), he wrote “False allegations are being made to mislead voters on the eve of polling. This is a desperate attempt to malign our party’s image.”
Familiar tactics of spreading false information to manipulate the righteous voters are being resorted to, a night before the polling day. We have filed a criminal complaint to the Hon’ble ECI & the Cyber crime department against the fake allegations made of bitcoin… pic.twitter.com/g8Selv1DFk
— Supriya Sule (@supriya_sule) November 19, 2024
Gaurav Mehta’s name surfaced as the whistleblower following revelations made by Patil. Patil had identified Mehta as the key witness in the 2018 scam. According to Patil, Mehta was working for a consultancy firm who, as a forensic expert, assisted the Pune police in the Rs 6600 crore cryptocurrency scam in the year 2018.
On Tuesday, Patil claimed that Sule and Patole had contacted Mehta for cash in exchange for Bitcoin. Patil further alleged that the Bitcoin funds were used for financing during the Maharashtra Lok Sabha elections. He also claimed to have voice notes allegedly sent by the key witness, Mehta. Patil stated, Sule sent three voice note messages, in which she is heard asking Mehta to liquidate the Bitcoin because they need funds for the elections. She is also heard assuring him not to worry about the investigation, and that they will handle it once they are in power.
According to Patil, Mehta told him over the phone that IPS officer and former Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake had framed him. He stated that the actual Bitcoin wallet was in their possession, and there was a layer of involvement, including leaders like Sule and Patole. Audio clips, allegedly sent through the Signal app, were presented as evidence, with claims that these funds would be used in the 2019 and 2024 elections. In the audio, Sule is heard telling Gaurav about bringing cash from Dubai.
Patil claimed he was falsely implicated in the case in 2022 and he was in jail in the said case for 14 months. The Bitcoin scam started by one Amit Bhardwaj and his company M/S Variable Tech Pte. Ltd., allegedly defrauded investors of Bitcoins worth Rs 6600 crore. The scam operated on false promises of a 10% monthly return through Bitcoin mining, with claims that the collected Bitcoins would yield high returns in crypto assets. However, instead of investing in mining, Bhardwaj and his associates concealed the funds in obscure online wallets, leaving investors in financial ruin. Following the exposure of the scam, Bhardwaj fled to Dubai but was deported to India. He passed away in 2022 due to a heart attack.
The scam also implicated high-profile figures, including Raj Kundra, Shilpa Shetty’s husband, who allegedly received 285 Bitcoins from Bhardwaj for setting up a Bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. The scale of the fraud led to the registration of approximately 40 FIRs across Maharashtra, Delhi, Punjab, and other states. The Pune police led the investigation, enlisting cyber expert Pankaj Ghode and Ravindra Nath Patil, but the case soon became mired in allegations of misappropriation. Former IPS officer Ravindra Nath and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode were accused of diverting seized cryptocurrencies into their own wallets. Allegedly, 241.47 Bitcoins, along with Bitcoin Cash and other cryptocurrencies, were siphoned off during the investigation. The duo is alleged to have manipulated the wallets of the accused and re-routed the funds to accounts controlled by themselves and their associates.
Patil alleged that he was falsely implicated in the case and accused Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta and IPS officer Bhagyashree Navtake of replacing genuine Bitcoin wallets with fake ones containing no fund.
Ravindra Nath was arrested and jailed in connection with this scam. During his imprisonment, Gaurav Mehta provided testimony against him. Mehta is considered a key figure in this case. The ED arrested Shimpi Bhardwaj, Nitin Gaur, and Nikhil Mahajan in connection with the scam. Shimpi Bhardwaj is the wife of Ajay Bhardwaj, Amit Bhardwaj’s brother. The ED has also filed a chargesheet in court against Amit Bhardwaj and his family.
Patil claimed that Mehta shared the info that Mehta is currently having the custody of the misappropriated bitcoins, amounting to hundreds of crores of rupees. According to Patil on November 17 this year, he started getting frantic calls on his Signal (app) account. He checked the number and found that it belonged to Gaurav Mehta. He claimed Mehta shared with him 10 voice notes on the Signal app which had purported audios of Supriya Sule, Nana Patole, Amitabh Gupta and Bhagyashree Navtake. These clips were submitted to the ECI on Tuesday, along with a formal request to probe the matter.
