SUMMARY
Bitcoin Legal Defence, a group of over 200 victims of the GainBitcoin scam, has hired a lawyer to seek cancellation of the interim bail granted to the key accused
Pune Police has also hired a counsel to oppose Ajay Bhardwaj’s plea before the Supreme Court, which has listed the case for next hearing on December 12
Cyber crime expert Pankaj Ghode, who is accused of stealing recovered Bitcoins from Police, was recently granted bail, and the group plans to seek cancellation of his bail as well
Over 200 victims of the GainBitcoin Scam have come together to form a group ‘Bitcoin Legal Defence’ to move Supreme Court against the interim bail of the main accused, Ajay Bhardwaj, in one of the biggest Ponzi schemes ever.
Hearing the case on October 12, 2022, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, comprising Justice Surya Kant and Justice MM Sundresh, ordered the continuation of interim bail to Ajay Bhardwaj, brother of mastermind Amit Bhardwaj, who passed away earlier this year.
The case is listed for the next hearing on December 12, 2022. “However, it might get preponed as it happened in the last hearing,” said Raminder Singh Vohra, a member of Bitcoin Legal Defence.
“The group is expanding and we are also looking to add as many new members as possible,” he added. “The group recently hired Supreme Court lawyer Devashish Bharuka and will file an application to become a party to the ongoing hearing.”
The GainBitcoin scam, which began in 2016-17, was a multi-level marketing (MLM) scheme which promised a highly-inflated monthly return of 10% on Bitcoin investments in 18 months. The scheme was operated by Amit Bhardwaj, his brother Ajay Bhardwaj, other family members, and so-called ‘Seven Stars’.
Like all other Ponzi schemes, soon the investors in GainBitcoin started losing money and the operators became unreachable.
Group To Also Seek Cancellation Of Bail To Pankaj Ghode
Meanwhile, the Pune Police is also said to have got a counsel who will represent the Maharashtra Police before the Court.
The victims of the scam have alleged that their previous legal counsel did not represent them properly and took bribes to weaken the case.
Bitcoin Legal Defence will also file a petition in the Pune Sessions Court for cancellation of bail granted to others accused in the case, including Pankaj Ghode.
Cyber crime experts Pankaj Ghode and IPS officer Ravindra Patil were arrested by the Pune Police on March 12, 2022 for misleading the investigation in the case and stealing the recovered Bitcoins. The Pune Police had earlier hired both the consultants to help trace the Bitcoin transactions in the GainBitcoin scam. In June 2022, the Police filed a 4,500-pages chargesheet against the duo.
While Patil is still in jail, Ghode was recently granted bail after multiple rejections.
Police departments from over 12 states, including Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Maharashtra, Delhi, and West Bengal, are investigating the case based on FIRs filed against Amit Bhardwaj and his associates.
Separately, the ED has been investigating the case for violation of provisions of PMLA and FEMA.
However, the hearing in the case in the Supreme Court took a new turn recently as additional solicitor general (ASG) Aishwarya Bhati, who is representing the Enforcement Directorate (ED) and the Centre, suggested the top court to transfer the case to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
On October 12, the hearing was adjourned as the ASG could not appear before the Court owing to bereavement in her family.
Meanwhile, the victims have since then been demanding that an SC-monitored ED investigation should be conducted in the case. They have also called for the continuation of the investigation by the Special Investigation Team (SIT) set up by the Maharashtra government.
An investigation by Inc42 earlier found that the total number of victims in the GainBitcoin scam stood at more than 1 Lakh, while more than 3,85,000 Bitcoins were collected under Amit Bhardwaj as part of the various schemes. This takes the size of the scam to over INR 90,000 Cr.
