In a hodgepodge of complaints, Surat Police uncovered a crypto scam worth INR 2 crores.
On Friday, Surat Police received a call about an alleged robbery at an angadia firm opposite the Varachha police station.
The police were confused that no complaint was filed. That’s why the cops thought of closing the case as a hoax call, reported Times of India.
However, a complainant from Hyderabad emerged at the police station on Saturday who lodged a complaint about a dacoity against Pintoo Kumar (PK) Jha, Amit, Suman Singh, Madhukar, Rakesh, Raju, Vicky, Shahrukh and some other people.
Vinay Jain, the victim, is an auto parts businessman who was robbed of INR 2 crores at the angadia firm called Shree Siddhi Vinayak Enterprise located at Central Bazar in Varachha.
Around 2 months ago, the Hyderabad based businessman came in touch with one Lakshminarayan.
Lakshminarayan lured Jain to invest in crypto for higher returns. After Jain agreed, he was introduced to PK Jha whom he met a few times in Hyderabad. The deal was supposed to take place at Surat.
Consequently, the victim along with his brother Aakash, Lakshminarayan, and driver Shinu drove to Surat on February 3. Before leaving for Surat, Jain had deposited INR 6 crore at an angadia firm which he collected in Surat. He had raised this amount from his relatives to invest in crypto, police revealed.
After collecting the money, he reached the office of Shree Siddhi Vinayak Enterprise with INR 2 crores to open a crypto account. Jha took the INR 2 crores in cash from Jain, but the money did not reflect in the latter’s crypto wallet.
Meanwhile, Jha prepared to leave the place with the cash but was asked by Jain to not leave before the money reflects in the account.
Soon an altercation ensued when around eight other people joined Jha and thrashed the other 3 before fleeing with the cash. Later, police arrived at the scene.
“It was a pre plan by the accused to beat them up and steal the cash. Jain and the other three left the city after the incident and reached Mumbai. However, they decided to file a police complaint and returned again to Surat on Saturday and filed a complaint,” cops added.
The whole case involved transactions in cash which is difficult to track. Cash transactions above INR 2 lakhs are banned in India. These huge cash transactions are hawala transactions which are in contravention of the law.
Cryptocurrency on the other hand can be tracked due to the digital trail of transactions it leaves behind on the blockchain. It does not offer complete privacy. Rather it provides pseudonymity.
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