Bitcoin scam mastermind ready to return money to investors, says Pune police

Police sources said Pankaj and Hemant were the agents of Amit and Vivek. Pankaj and Hemant motivated the people to invest in Amit’s firms. Sources said Pankaj and Hemant themselves had purchased more than 200 Bitcoins from Amit. Pune police damage database servers of three firms.

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The four accused were brought on production warrants from Tihar Jail on August 23.

Bitcoin scam mastermind Amit Bhardwaj has told investigators that he is ready to return the principal amount of all those who had invested in his three firms, Gain Bitcoin, GB Miner and GB 21 but not the money equivalent of the Bitcoins, purchased by the investors from him.

Sources said, “Amit Bhardwaj confessed during interrogation that he had invited the people to invest in his three firms but he never gave any guarantee to them that they would always make a profit. Amit also claimed during interrogation that there are a large number of investors, including two, who lodged complaints against him in Chandigarh, who had once earned a profit after investing in his three firms.”

Amit Bhardwaj, along with his associate Pankaj Adhlakha, was further remanded in six days’ police custody on Monday. Amit’s younger brother Vivek, along with Hemant Bhope, was remanded in judicial custody. The four were brought on production warrants from Tihar Jail on August 23.

DSP (Cyber) Rashmi Yadav Sharma said, “Amit Bhardwaj repeatedly claimed that he is capable of returning the amount of the investors but this is not the part of our investigation. We have collected documents showing transactions of money from the side of investors in the companies of Amit Bhardwaj. In some cases, investors did not invest the money directly in Amit’s firms and the money was invested through a shell company, owned by a person named Sanchit, who has been arrested earlier and lodged in Burail jail. We have identified five more persons, including four residing in Delhi and one in Manali, Himachal Pradesh, who were assisting Amit Bhardwaj. These five will be arrested shortly.”

Amit Bhardwaj

Police sources said Pankaj and Hemant were the agents of Amit and Vivek. Pankaj and Hemant motivated the people to invest in Amit’s firms. Sources said Pankaj and Hemant themselves had purchased more than 200 Bitcoins from Amit. Pune police damage database servers of three firms.

A cyber cell police officer said, “We have failed to recover the database servers of three firms, Gain Bitcoin, GB Miner and GB 21. Pune police personnel, which earlier arrested Amit, Vivek and others in connection with a separate case registered with them, have reportedly damaged these servers in course of the investigation. At present, we collected documents, exchanged mails showing the investment in Bhardwaj’s firms. Most of the documents and screenshots of emails were provided by the complainants to us. The database servers of Amit’s three companies considered to be technical evidences showing the transactions of money from the side of investors in the companies belonging to Amit Bhardwaj.”

Saurabh Parashar

Saurabh Parashar is a journalist with The Indian Express, where he primarily covers developments in Himachal Pradesh. He has been associated with The Indian Express since 2017 and has earlier worked with The Times of India. He has 17 year + experience in the field of print journalism. An alumnus of Government College for Men, Sector 11, (Panjab University), Chandigarh, Saurabh holds a Diploma in Journalism from Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan, Chandigarh. He pursued his Master’s in Mass Communication from Guru Jambheshwar University of Science & Technology, Hisar. In addition, he completed his law degree from Himachal Pradesh University (HPU), Shimla. ... Read More

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