2 Delhi residents held in Ponzi scam

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 25

The city police have arrested two Delhi residents claiming that they were agents of Bitcoin Ponzi king Amit Bhardwaj, who was recently arrested in Pune. Rajesh Jain and Sanchit were arrested on Thursday and were produced in a court on Friday, which sent the duo to three-day police remand. The police, however, had sought a 12-day remand.

The investigating officer (IO), Sub-Inspector Naveen, told the court that there were two transactions of the accused with Bhardwaj worth Rs 30 lakh and Rs 15 lakh. According to the police, the accused operated two Hong Kong-based companies wherein they asked people to invest in an 18-month scheme. They promised 10 per cent return each month, which they did for the initial two to three months. However, after that, the company disappeared and the people realised that they had been duped.

The IO told the court that they needed the remand to recover a laptop that could have important transaction details along with other items. The accused are to be taken to Hanumangarh and Haridwar for the purpose. The police are already scrutinising over 40 bank accounts and suspect that there might be many more complainants in the case. The police have also applied for production warrants of Bhardwaj.

Bhardwaj, a bitcoin entrepreneur, was recently arrested by the Pune police for duping a large number of people to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore. Sources said three businessmen had approached the UT police alleging that they had invested 250 bitcoins on Bhardwaj’s advice, who had assured them of huge returns. However, they neither got the returns nor the bitcoins.

The victims had purchased bitcoins from some website. Later, someone introduced them to Bhardwaj, who lured them to invest their bitcoins further into mining and transferred their bitcoins to himself.

Get 3-day remand

Rajesh Jain and Sanchit were arrested on Thursday and were produced in a court on Friday, which sent the duo to three-day police remand. The police, however, had sought a 12-day remand.