Six locations, including Delhi, were raided by the Enforcement Directorate of India (ED) as part of a large investigation into the alleged scamming of over 80,000 investors. The raid continued into Wednesday evening's late hours.
During the raid, the investigative agency seized numerous electronic devices and crucial papers. According to several media reports, sources at the ED headquarters claim that this probe is related to GainBitcoin scam purported by Amit Bhardwaj and his brother Ajay Bhardwaj involving approximately 20,000 crore.
Even though Amit Bhardwaj passed away due to sickness this year, the ED Mumbai office is still conducting its probe.
Moreover, numerous officers and attorneys linked with a Delhi-based law firm were also subject to raids; however, the name of this law company was not divulged by ED.
During the raids, however, critical documents were seized from Ajay Bhardwaj, Sanchit Alag, and Sehrawat, brother of Amit Bhardwaj. Currently, these documents are being thoroughly examined.
What is the GainBitcoin scam?
GainBitcoin was a multi-level marketing scheme run by Amit Bhardwaj.
They guaranteed a 10 per cent monthly return in Bitcoin-on-Bitcoin deposits for 18 months via multi-level marketing (MLM) programs. Investors were enticed to lend the corporation Bitcoins on the promise that their investments will be increased during the aforementioned period.
However, since there are only a limited number of Bitcoins, the logic of this MLM seemed deeply flawed, but many investors had already put their money in it without realising the error in their decisions.
Investors never received the principal amount and interest in Bitcoin. Both the principal and the interest were repaid in a currency called MCAP, which was created by the promoters of GainBitcoin. MCAP did not have the intrinsic value that Bitcoin had, and all the investors lost their money.