In an ongoing effort to address a cryptocurrency scam worth $300M in the Indian state of Himachal Pradesh, a special police team (SIT) has arrested eight more individuals, including four police officers, bringing the total number of arrests to 18.
The police have identified the arrested police officers as follows:
- Naresh Kumar of Samlehra village in Barsar Tehsil, Hamirpur district
- Lady Constable Jyoti from Didwin village in Barsar Tehsil, Hamirpur district.
- Balbir Singh from Chhatrayana village in Sarkaghat Tehsil, Mandi district.
- Sunil Kumar Chandrani from Kalbari, Bijhari, Hamirpur.
Previously, the SIT conducted raids on the homes of 25 agents, including a female police constable, in Hamirpur who were deceiving people by encouraging them to invest in cryptocurrency. This crypto fraud hit more than 1000 police too.
Deputy Chief Minister Mukesh Agnihotri has announced that more arrests are expected in this multi-crore scam. The police have managed to recover the entire website containing a list of individuals who had invested in cryptocurrency. Some people even left their jobs to become agents and earn commissions by persuading others to invest in cryptocurrency.
Most of the investments came from people in the Hamirpur and Mandi districts of Himachal Pradesh, with some investors from Haryana and Punjab. The SIT is currently investigating the flow of invested money. Additionally, the police have seized 80 mobile phones as evidence.
It has been revealed that in addition to individuals who received compensation for their land acquired for infrastructure projects, around 5,000 government employees, including police personnel, had invested significant sums in this scam.
The SIT has reconstructed the website involved in the crypto scam, which had approximately 250,000 user IDs. The police have also seized property valued at 8.5 crore rupees in various locations in Himachal Pradesh and Zirak.
Also Read: Floki Reveals Bitget’s Fake TOKEN Listing & Scamming Users
