E-Paper
Cryptocurrency fraud: Court rejects bail application of former IPS officer’s brother and wife
PUNE The additional sessions court has rejected the bail application of Kanchan Patil, wife of former IPS officer Ravindra Patil, and his brother Amarnath Patil in connection with a multi-crore cryptocurrency fraud case
PUNE The additional sessions court has rejected the bail application of Kanchan Patil, wife of former IPS officer Ravindra Patil, and his brother Amarnath Patil in connection with a multi-crore cryptocurrency fraud case. Cryptocurrencies worth ₹6 crore have been seized from the e-wallet of Patil and investigation underway into the number of virtual currencies siphoned off by cyber expert Pankaj Ghode in the case.
Additional sessions judge SB Salunkhe observed “from the evidence on record and above discussion I come to the conclusion that without custodial interrogation the investigation cannot be completed. Application is rejected.”
Defence lawyer Rohan Nahar argued that the applicant was in no way concerned with the crime. The applicant No. 1 is brother and No. 2 is wife of arrested accused Ravindra Patil. The police have arrested the co–accused and attached laptop, mobile, pen drive and electronic articles from the house of applicants. The crime was registered along with Indian Penal Code (IPC) offences and Maharashtra Protection of Interest of Depositors (in Financial Establishments) Act, 1999 (MPID Act).
The special court has passed an order that the sections levelled under MPID Act are not applicable and sent the proceeding to the JMFC, Pune. The allegations are against the co-accused Ghode about the stolen cryptocurrency. The crypto currency is not transferred in the wallet of the applicants but of the arrested accused Ravindra Patil and it is attached. The applicants are ready to cooperate for the investigation and there is no need for custodial interrogation, he stated.
The assistant public prosecutor (APP), investigation officer (IO) and an intervener’s advocate argued that the offence is serious in nature. The co-accused Ravindra Patil was appointed as an expert technician in a bitcoin scam. While investigating the scam, the co-accused Ravindra Patil has transferred bitcoin in his treasure wallet as well as treasure wallet of applicants. Ravindra has disclosed in investigation that he has transferred bitcoin in the name of his family more than 240 bitcoins and one bitcoin is ₹33 lakh. The Section 120B of the IPC is levelled against the applicants. The KYC identity proof of co-accused is in the name of applicants. The pin is set by the applicant No.1. Without a pin the treasure wallet cannot be opened. The pin and phrase i.e. seeds are set by the applicant and co-accused and without custodial interrogation it cannot be recovered.
