E-Paper
Bitcoin scam: Pune cyber cell submits 4,400-page chargesheet
In March this year, the Pune police had arrested former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ravindra Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode, who were roped in by the police to help them in cracking cryptocurrency fraud cases
The Economic Offences Unit (EOW) and cyber crime cell of Pune crime branch have filed a chargesheet in a local court against a former IPS officer and a cyber expert in connection with an alleged multi-crore cryptocurrency fraud, an official said on Tuesday
In March this year, the Pune police had arrested former Indian Police Service (IPS) officer Ravindra Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode, who were roped in by the police to help them in cracking cryptocurrency fraud cases.
The 4,400-page chargesheet accused Patil of transferring some of the cryptocurrencies in his account during the course of the investigation, and Ghode provided screenshots of the accounts to police by manipulating the figures.
Patil and Ghode’s role got exposed during the investigation by senior officials while probing multicrore bitcoin fraud which took place in 2018. The EOW incharge police inspector Ankush Chintaman filed the chargesheet before the magistrate’s court on Monday.
“We filed the chargesheet against Patil and Ghode in a court here on Monday. Both are in magisterial custody as of today,” Chintaman said.
The Pune city police’s cyber crime cell had on March 12 arrested Ghode (38) and Patil (45), an ex-IPS officer of the 2004 batch of Jammu and Kashmir cadre.
Ghode and Patil had helped a special investigation team (SIT) of the Pune police in their probe of two cases to investigate the Rs2,000 crore cryptocurrency fraud involving its mastermind Amit Bharadwaj and others in two FIRs lodged at Nigdi and Dattawadi police stations in 2018.
According to the latest FIR lodged against the cyber experts, the police had assigned them the task of recovering bitcoins from the wallets of the accused and shared data with them. Both Patil and Ghode manipulated the screenshots of e-wallets of cryptocurrencies in possession of the main accused and others and moved a large number of bitcoins to their personal e-wallets.
A case under Sections 409 (criminal breach of trust by public servant or by banker, merchant or agent), 420 (cheating), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating), 471 (whoever fraudulently or dishonestly uses as genuine any 1[document or electronic record), and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code along with Sections 66(c) of Information Technology Act and Sections 3 and 4 of Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors was lodged at the cyber police station. Currently, the duo is lodged in Yerawada Cental Jail.
The cyber police claimed that they have recovered 34 types of cryptocurrencies worth ₹6 crore from the wallets of Patil. Police are yet to make any recovery from the wallets of Ghode.
Police established the blockchain evidence in the case and the seizures were made thereafter. Police established the blockchain evidence in the case and the seizures were made thereafter.
