Mega Bitcoin Scam Erupts Among Top Indian Government Officials

A “mega Bitcoin scam” has allegedly been committed by top Indian officials of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Supposedly, those accused converted black money to Bitcoin, using the cryptocurrency for extortion and money laundering, Cointelegraph reported.

Senior Indian National Congress (INC) member Shaktisinh Gohil suggested that the Supreme Court look into the matter. Gohil claimed that the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) estimates that the mega Bitcoin scam involves 5,000 crore rupees ($723 million), with some pushing that number to much higher.

The senior INC member said that the scandal was observed when the case of businessmen Sailesh Bhatt and Kirit Paladia surfaced. Bhatt filed a complaint against the district police of Amreli, Gujarat, and the investigation led to the arrest of the authorities involved.

Bhatt claimed that the Amreli police extorted 200 Bitcoins (worth $2 million at the time) from him and Paladia, as well as demanded 32 crore rupees ($4.6 million) in cash. In a statement, Bhatt said that he and his partner were kidnapped in February and taken to a farmhouse, where they were coerced to transfer the cryptocurrencies.

Moreover, the incident involved a member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA), Nalin Kotadiya, who remains at large. Gohil said that Kotadiya’s capture will reveal “damning evidence” that will prove his accusations and will expose BJP heads as the crooks that they are.

“As the BJP is scrambling for answers to explain how Ahmedabad District Cooperative Bank, whose director is BJP chief Amit Shah, received old currency worth ~745.58 crores in just five days and how ~3118.51 crores was deposited in 11 district co-operative banks linked with BJP leaders in Gujarat itself, a new ‘mega bitcoin scam’ worth more than 5,000 crore rupees has been unraveled in the state,” Gohil said. He added that the BJP leaders involved in this scheme used hawala transactions, a money transfer involving multiple agents to ultimately pay the final receipt.

Aside from the BJP, the Narendra Modi government also received scathing comments from Gohil, who accused them of turning a blind eye. He observed that the Modi government is adamant about pursuing certain party candidates during the election but remains silent about this particular issue.

Other officials are saying that this refusal to investigate is the government’s way of protecting itself as it too may be involved in this mega Bitcoin scam. As of now, however, Gohil’s accusation remains just that, an accusation.