24 duped of Rs 1.80 crore against investment in digital cryptocurrency

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

City Chowk police have registered an offence against six accused hailing from Punjab and Himachal Pradesh, on the charge of duping 24 investors of Rs 1.80 crore. They had assured the investors of returning double the amount invested in the digital cryptocurrency in 11 months.

The names of the accused are Rajneesh Kumar Singh (Chandigarh), Subhash Sharma (Himachal Pradesh), Rajeev Duhan (Panchkula, Chandigarh), Neel Dhiman (Himachal Pradesh), Abhishek Sharma, and Vivek Sharma. The accused, Subhash Sharma, owns a digital cryptocurrency company. He was operating the company in a chain system. Rajneesh Kumar, one of the accused, was a part of this chain.

The complainant, Rajnikant Rajshekhar Rebala (Cidco N-4 Sector), along with 23 of his acquaintances, was promised by the accused that if they invested in digital cryptocurrency, they would receive a 10% return on the invested amount every month. Besides, they were assured that their investment would double in eleven months. Falling prey to this, the complainant and his acquaintances invested a total of Rs 1.80 crore between October 7, 2020, and March 3, 2023.

The accused initially provided returns to the investors for a few months. As the accused gained their trust, the complainant and other investors reinvested the returns they received back into the accused's company. However, within a few days, the accused stopped giving the promised returns. When the investors realised they had been defrauded, they had already filed a complaint with the police. The complainant, Rebala, was also named as an accused. However, Rebala complained to the police stating that he also had been defrauded. Since the police did not take action on his complaint, he approached the court. The court, under section 156(3), directed the police to register a case and investigate the matter. Following this, the City Chowk police registered a case against the accused on Thursday. PSI Nivrutti Gayake is investigating the case.

Will the number increase?

There is a possibility that the number of people deceived under the guise of cryptocurrency will increase. PSI Gayake has appealed to the citizens saying anyone who has been defrauded under the pretext of investing in cryptocurrency to immediately contact the City Chowk Police.