Bitcoin scam: Bhardwaj brothers arrested at Delhi airport in Rs 2000 cr case

Amit Bhardwaj and his brother Vivek Bhardwaj, owners of GainBitcoin and GB mining who allegedly duped over 8,000 persons to the tune of Rs 2000 crore, were arrested by a team of Pune police from Delhi airport on Thursday.

The arrests were made after seven persons filed two case against the brothers in Pune. Confirming the arrest, Pune Police Commissioner Rashmi Shukla, said, "We received information that Bhardwaj was coming to Delhi. We apprehended him on Monday morning and brought him to the city."

The duo was produced in court on Thursday and has been remanded to police custody for 13 days.

Amit, the main accused in the cases registered in several police stations in Maharashtra, had introduced the first online retail marketplace accepting bitcoins in 2014. The brothers own a chain of bitcoin mining operations in India and Bangkok.

According to the police, Amit and his associates had started a multilevel marketing scheme.

They would conduct seminars to lure victims into investing in bitcoins, with assurances of large financial gains. The company's local agents would introduce these traders and investors to the Gain-bitcoin scheme and promise 18 per cent returns as interest per month on buying the bitcoins and saving in their e-wallet application.

After issuing interest for the first three months, the company allegedly stopped the practice and asked investors to transfer the bitcoins to another e-wallet. After the transfer, the company informed investors that they would get back their Bitcoins in another form of cryptocurrency - MCap – to be launched by the Bhardwaj brothers. The rate of the currency was Rs 12, as compared to Bitcoin's rate of Rs 8-10 lakh in the international market.

The investors realised that they are were being duped and the first complaint was lodged in Nanded by 50 traders for 500 bitcoins. By then, Bhardwaj had fled the country and was hiding in Dubai.