Bitcoin fraud case: Prosecution to file its say on bail plea of two accused

Cybercrime department charged Ravindra Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode for breach of trust and cheating the police

The cybercrime department has seized crypto currencies worth Rs6 crore from former IPS officer, Ravindra Patil, 45, and collectively charged Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode for breach of trust and cheating the police. The duo was roped in to assist the Pune police in cracking crypto currency cases in which many people were allegedly cheated by Amit Bhardwa, director of firm Gain Bitcoin and others. Two cases were filed against Bharadwaj and his accomplices at Dattawadi and Nigdi police stations in 2018.

Two cases were filed against Amit Bhardwa, director of firm Gain Bitcoin and his accomplices at Dattawadi and Nigdi police stations in 2018. (REPRESENTATIVE PHOTO)

Patil, who started as a cyber expert in crypto after taking voluntary retirement from IPS, along with Ghode, used to come to the police commissionerate where they misused their expertise and illegally transferred crypto into their e-wallets.

The first information report (FIR) against them states, “The duo, as technical experts, assisted the police in the recovery of some bitcoins up to some extent but they misused the data handed over to them for criminal investigation by the investigating officer. They illegally transferred the seized bitcoins from national and international wallets into their own wallets and those of their acquaintances. The accused misled the investigation officer by tampering the screenshot of the seized bitcoins and gave wrong information to the investigator.”

According to the police, Patil transferred the bitcoins from a wallet to his own account. The technical and forensic investigation has revealed that he transferred the bitcoins from the earlier accused’s wallets to his own. According to the cyber department, Ghode submitted a report to the police station that there was not even a single bitcoin left in the mining pool wallet when some bitcoins were recovered and transferred to the police wallet and furnished a screenshot of the same as evidence. However, the technical investigation revealed that there were some bitcoins in the said wallet and Ghode did not give information regarding them to the investigating officer. Thus, the report and screenshot given by Ghode was misleading and dishonest in nature, the complaint states.

On Thursday, defense counsels - advocate S K Jain who appeared for Ghode and advocate Rohan Nagar for Patil - made their submissions before the judicial magistrate court seeking bail for their clients. Advocate Jain said “Ghode used to work as a technical expert for the police and assisted the police in tracing bitcoins in two cases which also includes help to other agencies. The work was done in the presence of policemen and they knew about it. In all the three remand reports, no bitcoin has been recovered from Ghode despite seizure of all electronic devices by the police. The police had frozen the bank account of his company which is not at all connected with the case. This company deals with online sale of agri produce of farmers and we are receiving messages from farmers that they will commit suicide if the money is not paid to them. The police have not specified about tampering and made vague allegations against him,” he said.

Advocate Jain further added that the prosecution has not alleged that 11 wallets belong to the present accused or any bitcoin has been transferred to the present accused. The prosecution cannot prime facie establish the trail of the transaction of bitcoin, therefore, the accused cannot be held responsible for the allegations made in the FIR and in the remand report.

Advocate Rohan Nahar said that the applicants or co-accused Ravindra Patil do not attract section 409 of the IPC or sections 465, 465 and 468. Even IPC 420 does not apply and there is no misrepresentation or cheating done by him. The fact is that the bitcoins recovered from him have been recovered by the police under duress as his family members were threatened,” he said. The prosecution will be filing its say on Monday.

The cyber police arrested them on March 12 and they were remanded to police custody till March 19. Since then, they have been in judicial custody. The inquiry confirmed that the two had manipulated screenshots and transferred crypto currency seized from the accused in two cases - one at Nigdi and one at Dattawadi police station in 2018.