ED may summon Shilpa Shetty for questioning in ponzi scam case: Sources

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) may summon Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty for recording her statement in a bitcoin scam case, sources said.

According to the information, a part of the proceeds of crime in the case, 285 Bitcoins, worth Rs 150 crore, is suspected to have gone to Shilpa Shetty.

The ED on Thursday attached immovable and movable properties worth Rs 97.79 crore belonging to the actor's husband, businessman Raj Kundra, in the over Rs 7,000 crore GainBitcoin Ponzi scam under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002.

The attached properties include a flat in Juhu in Shilpa Shetty's name, a bungalow in Pune and equity shares in Raj Kundra's name.

The probe agency initiated the investigation based on multiple FIRs registered by Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police against Variable Tech Private Limited, and the accused, late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and others.

It had been alleged that the accused had collected huge amounts of funds in the form of bitcoins (worth Rs 6,600 crore in 2017 itself) from people with the false promises of a 10 per cent per month return in the form of bitcoins.

The collected bitcoins were supposed to be utilised for bitcoin mining and the investors would have got huge returns on crypto assets. But the promoters cheated them and have been concealing the Bitcoins in obscure online wallets.

The ED investigation revealed that Kundra received 285 bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj, the mastermind and promoter of the GainBitcoin ponzi scam, for setting up a bitcoin mining farm in Ukraine. The said bitcoins were sourced out of proceeds of crime collected by Amit Bhardwaj.

Since the deal didn't materialise, Raj Kundra is still in possession of 285 bitcoins, which are presently valued at more than Rs 150 crore.

Earlier, multiple search operations were carried out in the case and three people, Simpy Bhardwaj, Nithin Gaur and Nikhil Mahajan were arrested.

Notably, the main accused, Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahendra Bhardwaj, are still absconding.

Earlier, the ED had attached properties worth Rs 69 crore in the case.

Further investigation is on.