Shilpa Shetty’s Husband Receives Summon For ₹150Cr Bitcoin Scam
- Raj Kundra and Rajesh Satija have been summoned by the PMLA in connection with the Ponzi scam.
- Shilpa Shetty’s husband Kundra argues that he was a facilitator, not a beneficiary.
- The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police is probing into another Kundra’s ₹60 crore scam.
Shilpa Shetty’s husband Raj Kundra has been summoned by the PMLA court in Mumbai in connection with the “Gain Bitcoin” Ponzi scheme money laundering case. Besides Kundra, Rajesh Satija, who is a businessman in Dubai, is also summoned on January 19. The Mumbai PMLA court accepted the Enforcement Directorate (ED) chargesheet, which stated that Kundra was involved in a ₹150 crore Bitcoin laundering case.
GainBitcoin Crime Trail Leads to Kundra
According to the Probe agency, Raj Kundra is not directly connected to the scam, but he did receive 258 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj, who was arrested in April 2018 for the “Gain Bitcoin” Ponzi scheme money laundering case.
As per the agency, Amit Bhardwaj gave 258 Bitcoins to Raj Kundra for setting up a Bitcoin mining operation in Ukraine that did not proceed. Raj Kundra failed to do so. But he never returned the 258 Bitcoin, which is valued at around ₹150 crore.
The investigators’ allegations, Kundra was a beneficial owner of the crypto assets and did not present any documentary evidence to substantiate the origin or legal acquisition of the Bitcoins. The ED has contended that the assets are proceeds of crime under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) and hence could be attached and prosecuted.
Ponzi Collapse Fuels Crypto Enforcement Push
The GainBitcoin scheme was an aggressive promotion during the Indian crypto boom in its early years that promised fixed monthly Bitcoin returns through a cloud mining contract. Stopping payouts caused the scheme to collapse, revealing what the authorities described as a massive Ponzi scheme. Several wallets, shell entities, and cross-border crypto are now under continued forensic analysis.
The Economic Offences Wing of Mumbai Police is investigating a ₹60 crore investor fraud involving Kundra’s business ventures, only to escalate regulatory interests in his business dealings. Although both cases are still in court, the enforcement officials have increased the level of control and forensic audits.
The case comes to a delicate point in India’s crypto ecosystem. Having regulators already alert to frauds, scams, and unregulated token trades, high-profile names associated with crypto laundering cement the tough position taken by enforcement agencies on digital assets.
Related: Matrimony and Crypto: Telangana’s ₹87.5L Scam Story
Kundra has not even owned up, claiming that he was nothing more than a facilitator, but not a beneficiary. He also claimed that his iPhone, which has the proof, was broken. Officials see this as an attempt to destroy evidence. Nonetheless, as the ED continues to advance and courts have become part of the case, the case is likely to remain a prime resource in the current Indian crypto enforcement history.
Is Raj Kundra heading toward one of India’s first major crypto-linked convictions, or will the case collapse under the weight of circumstantial blockchain evidence?
