Bitcoin MLM scam: Anticipatory bail plea of accused rejected

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, July 6

A local court here has dismissed the anticipatory bail application of Rajiv Rana, one of the accused in the alleged Bitcoin Multi-Level Marketing scam.

The scam was unearthed in January 2018.

The Chandigarh Police had first registered an FIR in the case in April 2018 on the complaints of various people from Chandigarh and Mohali.

The police had registered the FIR on the complaints of Amardeep Singh, Manoj Garg and Sukhbir Singh Uppal against the CEO, directors, promoters and marketing head of M/s Variable Tech Pvt Ltd.

The complainants alleged that they had been allured by these persons to invest in their company under the MLM scheme on their website www.gainbitcoin.com.

They alleged that the website was stated to be owned by M/s Variable Tech Pvt Ltd, registered at Singapore.

The complainants further said they were assured of guaranteed return on their investment for a continuous period of 18 months at 10 per cent per month.

During investigation, 15 other complaints were received on similar grounds and were investigated under the present FIR.

Kuldeep Singh and Jaswinder Kaur made specific allegations against the accused and said they were cheated on similar grounds.

Manmohan, the counsel for Rana, argued that the accused himself had invested in the company and was a victim of fraud by the company.

His name was not included in the original FIR, said Manmohan.

He argued that at the instance of the accused, Jaswinder and Kuldeep had also invested amounts in company and received the Bitcoins from Zebay Exchange and Bitcoins stands transferred to the user account.

Additional public prosecutor, meanwhile, displayed the account statement of Rana, wherein lakhs of rupees had been allegedly received by the accused from the investors in his own account.

Additional public prosecutor argued that custodial interrogation was required to ascertain the mode and manner in which the offence had been committed and also the details regarding M/s Rana Enterprises owned by the accused was to be procured.

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