RAIPUR, Nov 22: The CBI questioned Gaurav Mehta, an audit company employee, over nearly four hours for the second consecutive day on Friday in connection with its probe into the Rs 6,600-crore Gain Bitcoin ponzi scam case here, officials said.
The agency is probing the case on orders of the Supreme Court, with three FIRs registered in October, while many others in states were also taken up by it, they said.
The company Variable Tech Pvt Ltd, Late Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj and others are facing action for allegedly collecting Bitcoins worth around Rs 6,600 crore from people through their multi-level-marketing scheme with false promises of 10 per cent monthly return in the form of the cryptocurrency.
Bitcoins, a cryptocurrency, are not controlled by any central bank of any country.
The alleged economic fraud turned into a political issue on the eve of the Maharashtra polls when the BJP on Tuesday played purported voice notes of Baramati MP Supriya Sule and Maharashtra Congress chief Nana Patole to Mehta, and alleged that attempts were being made to encash Bitcoins to influence the elections.
Mehta faced action from the Enforcement Directorate and CBI on Wednesday when the anti-money laundering agency raided his premises in Raipur. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) questioned him on Thursday. He was questioned again on Friday at the agency’s office in Raipur where he arrived in the afternoon.
He was grilled on various aspects and allowed to go, the officials said, and added that he may be called again for questioning.
A former IPS officer, Ravindranath Patil, who was arrested in a 2018 cryptocurrency “fraud” case, has also alleged that Mehta had sent him 10 voice notes on the Signal app having purported recorded messages from Sule and Patole.
All allegations were strongly refuted by Sule and Patole, who termed the voice notes “fake”. (PTI)
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