Bitcoin ponzi scam accused declared proclaimed offender

CHANDIGARH: A Chandigarh district court on Tuesday declared Vikas Qadian, a proclaimed offender (PO) in a multicrore-rupee Bitcoin ponzi scam. The court initiated the proceedings to declare him a PO after he failed to appear before the court despite being summoned several times. He is accused of defrauding many people in the name of investing in Bitcoins.
Last year, acting on the complaint of a former Armyman, police had booked Amit Bhardwaj, owner of Gain Bitcoin, his brother Vivek Bhardwaj, Vikas Qadian and other persons for duping him of around Rs 1.5 crore by luring him handsome returns on investing in Bitcoin.Bhardwaj and his brother had duped thousands of people across the country. Both were arrested from Delhi last year and are lodged in Pune jail. Sources said the complainant had met Bhardwaj through a Sector 49 resident at Dubai in 2016. The trial is yet to begin in the case.
Accused Vikas has been absconding since then.
The Chandigarh police had earlier filed a chargesheet against Sanchit, a resident of Delhi and Rajesh Kumar, a native of Rajasthan in the case. They both were arrested from Delhi. The police stated that both had direct links with the main accused Amit. They were involved in transferring funds from various fake accounts to Gain Bitcoin. They both developed a code language and said to have transferred more than Rs 30 lakh to various accounts of the main accused.
Police had registered an FIR against eight accused involved in the case including Amit Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Vikas Qadian, Pankaj Adhlakh, Hemant Bhope, Sanchit and Rajesh Kumar.
Matter in the HC
The matter of multicrore-rupee Bitcoin scam has reached the Punjab and Haryana high court as three petitioners have demanded the matter to be handed over to the CBI as it involves scam of more than Rs 40,000 crore affecting 8,000 people across the country. It was argued that instead of booking the accused under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, sections of the Enforcement Directorate should also be added. This matter is being handled casually by the Chandigarh police who have booked the accused under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and the IT Act.