Thane cryptocurrency scam’s chief accountant surrenders

Sachin Shelar, 40, chief accountant of Flintstone firm for the last few years, had fled to Dubai along with the CEO and mastermind, Amit Lakhanpal, after getting wind that police were looking for him

The chief accountant of the real-estate firm which duped more than 25,000 investors in a ₹500-crore cryptocurrency scheme earlier this month surrendered himself to the Thane crime branch on Tuesday.

The office of Flintstone group at Orion business centre on Ghodbunder, Thane. (HT Photo)

Sachin Shelar, 40, chief accountant of Flintstone firm for the last few years, had fled to Dubai along with the CEO and mastermind, Amit Lakhanpal, after getting wind that police were looking for him. “We questioned Shelar’s family many time but they were not cooperating. It was on Tuesday when he finally came to the Thane crime branch and surrendered,” said a police officer from Thane commissionerate.

Shelar, who is said to be close to Lakhanpal, is a resident of Shivaji Chowk in Dombivli.

“We have recovered hardware from Shelar which he intended to destroy. We are investigating how money was transferred to him and what he did with it after the transactions,” the officer said.

The officer said this was the second arrest they had made in this case. “Earlier, we arrested the technical head of the firm, Taha Kazi, a Mumbra resident. There are three other suspects, including a woman, who are on the run.”

On 4 June, the Thane crime branch busted the cryptocurrency racket run by the Flintstone firm and discovered that Lakhanpal had fled to Dubai, where he is said to be hiding now.

On Saturday, the Thane crime branch also lodged a case related to the Gain BitCoin scam at Khadakpada police station in Kalyan, following a man’s complaint that he was cheated of ₹22.5 lakh by the company.

The mastermind behind this scam, Amit Bhardwaj, has already been arrested by the Pune police.