Businessman Raj Kundra, husband of actress Shilpa Shetty, was granted bail by a PMLA court in Mumbai on Friday in connection with the Rs 6,606 crore Bitcoin scam case. Last month, the special PMLA court had issued summons to Raj Kundra and New Delhi-based businessman Rajesh Satija, while observing that the prosecution complaint and the record of the case prima facie indicate his involvement in the offence of money laundering.
Kundra appeared before the Sessions Court in connection with the Bitcoin case earlier this day.
About The Case
The Enforcement Directorate (ED) last year filed a supplementary prosecution complaint in the Rs 6,606 crore bitcoin-linked money laundering case involving Delhi-based Variabletech Pvt Ltd (VTPL), naming Raj Kundra and Rajesh Ram Satija among the accused.
While taking cognisance of the complaint, the special PMLA court observed that there was adequate material to proceed against accused numbers 17 (Kundra) and 18 (Satija) under Section 3, punishable under Section 4 of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA). The court said the ED had established a prima facie case warranting further proceedings against them.
The court also recorded the ED’s allegation that Kundra had received and retained proceeds of crime in the form of bitcoins. According to the agency, he received 285 bitcoins, valued at Rs 150.47 crore as of April 16, 2024, at a rate of Rs 52,79,755 per bitcoin, and continued to possess and enjoy them. The ED alleged that Kundra refused to disclose the wallet addresses and failed to surrender the bitcoins, which were allegedly received from accused Amit Bhardwaj, making him a beneficiary of the proceeds of crime.
Further, the court referred to the ED’s claim that Kundra not only acquired the alleged proceeds of crime but also attempted to layer the transactions to make them appear legitimate. It alleged that he executed a sale transaction with his wife at a rate significantly below market value to disguise the origin of the funds and evade legal consequences by concealing their alleged illegal source.
