The Indian Supreme Court asks Ajay Bharadwaj, the co-accused in the GainBitcoin scam, to reveal the username and password of his crypto wallet to the Enforcement Directorate (ED).
The accused was directed to cooperate in the investigation and disclose the details by a Supreme Court bench led by Justice DY Chandrachud.
As per the Business Today report, the Court was hearing Ajay Bhardwaj’s appeal to have the case against him dismissed. Ajay and his deceased brother Amit Bhardwaj are accused of conducting a multi-level marketing scheme that promised investors large profits.
Additional Solicitor General Aishwarya Bhati stated, “this has nothing to do with the legality of cryptocurrency and the username and password is crucial in this matter.”
The Supreme Court had urged Bhati to clarify the legality of cryptocurrencies verbally during the previous hearing but did not demand the clarification in the order.
Ajay Bhardwaj’s lawyer, Deepak Prakash, claimed that his client does not know the username or password of his late brother’s crypto wallet.
He said that Ajay Bhardwaj has an almost-unused crypto wallet and that he will cooperate with and inform the authorities. Ajay is granted extended interim protection from arrest by the court.
Through MLM schemes, the siblings promised a 10% monthly return on Bitcoin-on-Bitcoin deposits for 18 months. Investors were tempted to lend the company Bitcoin, on the premise that their money will rise throughout the time period stated.
Because there is a finite quantity of Bitcoin, the logic of this MLM appeared to be severely faulty, but many investors had already invested without noticing this.
The investors obviously never received their investment and interest. The principle as well as the interest were reimbursed in MCAP, a currency established by the GainBitcoin promoters. MCAP lacked the intrinsic value that Bitcoin possessed, and all of the investors lost money.
After the value of Bitcoin increased, the GainBitcoin scam’s value was updated from 2,000 crore to 20,000 crore, so approximately 80,000 Bitcoins were embezzled.
The number of crypto-related scams occurring in India is at an all time high with the way these criminals are moving. An Indian pharma executive was scammed of Rs 22 lakh by his business partner and three of his aides via a crypto fraud. And recently, one of the main suspects in the Rs 1,200 Cr fake crypto scam busted by the ED was arrested in Kerala by the bureau.
