ED grills Kundra in Bitcoin PMLA case
Mumbai: The ED on Tuesday quizzed Raj Kundra, husband of Shilpa Shetty, in connection with a money laundering probe related to Bitcoin transactions, officials said. He was asked questions about his involvement in the trade, termed as illegal by the government.
The Enforcement Directorate ( ED) on Tuesday questioned actor Shilpa Shetty’s businessman husband Raj Kundra for over 10 hours in connection with a Bitcoin- related money laundering case. ED officials are ascertaining if the couple could be a beneficiary of the scam. The marathon questioning began around 11.30 am.
The probe pertains to the Pune police case against one Amit Bhardwaj, the founder of the company Gain Bitcoin who had allegedly duped over 8,000 people in the name of investing in the cryptocurrency. The Pune and Delhi police have arrested Bhardwaj, and ED officials said that there were allegedly Bitcoin transactions between Mr Kundra and Bharadwaj. They said that Bharadwaj would mine Bitcoin in China and wanted investors to invest in them. He held several events in Dubai and other locations to seek investments.
“The investors bought mined Bitcoin and invested them in Gain Bitcoin. We are seeking clarity on a transaction between Mr Kundra and Bharadwaj to ascertain its nature and to find out if Mr Kundra is a beneficiary or a victim,” said a senior ED officer.
The ED questioned Mr Kundra till beyond 9.30 pm, however, the officials were tight- lipped over the revelations made him. Bhardwaj and his colleagues started the Ponzi scheme website, gainbitcoin. com, and duped investors in Mumbai, Pune, Nanded and Kolhapur. The quantum of the fraud is stated to be to the tune of at least ` 2,000 crore.