A former IPS officer and a cyber expert, who were roped in to assist the Pune Police in cracking cryptocurrency fraud cases, were arrested for allegedly cheating the investigators by fraudulently transferring money to the tune of crores from digital wallets to their accounts, an official said on Saturday.
The accused were identified as former IPS officer Ravindra Patil and cyber expert Pankaj Ghode. Patil started working as a cyber expert after taking voluntary retirement from IPS; their assistance was needed as very few understand the nitty-gritty of digital currency.
A police official said that Patil allegedly transferred some of the cryptocurrencies in his account and Ghode provided screenshots of the accounts to police by manipulating the figures.
‘‘The role of the duo was exposed during an investigation by senior officials. Patil and Ghode used data provided by the police for technical analysis for their benefit. As per the preliminary investigation, Ghode manipulated the screenshots ostensibly showing less amount in crypto wallets and submitted them to police," an officer said.
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Patil also transferred some cryptocurrencies from the account of the accused to his account.
