Mumbai: The Special PMLA court on Monday remanded Delhi resident Simpy Bharadwaj, arrested on Sunday, to ED custody till December 26. Bharadwaj has been arrested in connection with a crypto currency scam running into ₹6606 crores involving his late husband Ajay Bhardwaj and his late brother Amit Bharadwaj.
The special PMLA judge MG Deshpande while remanded Simpy to ED custody observed, "Sufficient opportunity has to be given to ED in view of the complexity and huge proceeds of crime involved therein and as determining the same and finding out the end use."
Accused lured investigators with high returns: ED
The ED while seeking her custody claimed, the accused lured investigators with high returns in lieu of investment in bitcoins. There are in all 15 cases registered against them with different police stations in the country out of which Simpy is named in three cases.
The agency claimed that Simpy was one of the directors in M/s Variabletech Pte Ltd, Singapore, which lured investors to invest their bitcoins by promising them much higher returns in bitcoins and in the crypto currency developed by this company. Simpy along with directors of M / s Variable Tech Pvt Ltd Late Amit Bhardwaj, his brother and Simpy's husband Ajay Bhardwaj, hatched a criminal conspiracy to cheat the general public at large through its website www.gainbitcoin.com.
The agency further claimed that Simpy and directors of M/s Variabletech Private Limited, Singapore, projected that their company is involved in block chain and cryptocurrency mining technology and has a mining farm in China and the company, through its cloud mining service provider i.e. Gainbitcoin.com, acquires the cloud mining hash power from large vendors by paying them in the form of Bitcoins.
Further the agency claimed, Simpy, along with directors of Variabletech Private Limited, Singapore, had falsely projected that people could purchase a small part of cloud mining space (Hash Value) for 18 months through a contract made with M/s Variabletech Private Limited and get assured return of 10% per Bitcoin for 18 months.
Simpy, other directors falsely portrayed themselves as leaders in Bitcoin mining
Besides, the agency said, Simpy and other directors falsely portrayed themselves as leaders in Bitcoin mining in India and claimed to have massive cloud mining set up, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. The agency said she has been hiding the end use of the money gathered from the investors.
Simpy's lawyer Subodh Desai contended that she was not a director in any of the company but is just wife of one of the directors - Ajay Bhardwaj. Desaid further contended that she was not given any notice or summons prior to her arrest. Desai said that her house was searched and she was arrested claiming she was obstructing the process. Desai said there was no reason for ED to arrest her, while ED could have registered at the most a separate case under Indian Penal Code for obstructing the process of investigation.
