Three more people, including the prime accused, have been arrested for duping multiple people to the tune of crores by luring them with high returns on cryptocurrency investments, Ambala superintendent of police Jashandeep Singh Randhawa said on Tuesday.
Police said that one Kapil Jaiswal, a resident of Ambala, was the first to be arrested in connection to the scam on September 6, followed by another local, Vikas Kalra, who was nabbed two days later from Amritsar, which subsequently led to the arrest of one Tarun Taneja from Peelani in Rajasthan on Saturday.
Another suspect, Ramesh Kumar, a resident of Shahbad, was also arrested on Monday in connection with the case, a police spokesperson said.
According to police, Taneja, a resident of Kurukshetra, was the mastermind behind the scam. He ran a fake website, “Crypto World Trading Company”, in connivance with several others. Taneja has been sent to one week in police remand.
Police said that with the latest arrests, assets worth ₹60 lakh have been recovered. “The seized assets include four vehicles – a Toyota Innova, Chevrolet Venue, Maruti Suzuki Ciaz and Datsun Redi Go. These cars were purchased using money within the last six months using money obtained by cheating people. Other than this, 13 bank accounts, cash and gold have also been seized from the suspects,” said Randhawa.
The alleged fraud worth crores of rupees came to the fore last month when one Mandeep, a resident of Bhanokheri village, submitted a complaint to the SP accusing the company of making off with investments made through their website. He had told police that multiple people had made investments running into crores through the site, which went offline suddenly without warning. An investigation was conducted by the economic offences wing (EOW), following which an FIR was registered against them an SIT was constituted.
{{/usCountry}}The alleged fraud worth crores of rupees came to the fore last month when one Mandeep, a resident of Bhanokheri village, submitted a complaint to the SP accusing the company of making off with investments made through their website. He had told police that multiple people had made investments running into crores through the site, which went offline suddenly without warning. An investigation was conducted by the economic offences wing (EOW), following which an FIR was registered against them an SIT was constituted.
{{/usCountry}}Sharing details, Randhawa told mediaperons that it was a multi-level trading company, where investors were convinced at parties and events to get more people on board in exchange for higher returns.
Randhawa said that nearly 60 people have approached them claiming they had been duped by the company, but the amount they still remains unverified due to disparity in the principal investment and what was earned as interest.
“The data will be verified from the website for which the IP address is being traced through an Indian host. I appeal to all the victims to submit their claims with evidence, if they have been cheated too,” the SP further said.