The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has seized properties worth nearly ₹100 crore owned by businessman Raj Kundra, amid ongoing investigations into his involvement in a Bitcoin Ponzi scheme. The seized assets include a residential flat in Juhu registered in the name of his wife, Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty, a Pune bungalow, and various equity shares. Both Kundra and Shetty have denied any wrongdoing.
The ED’s action follows complaints from the Maharashtra and Delhi Police regarding a scam orchestrated by Variable Tech Private Limited and others, where investors were duped into expecting high returns from Bitcoin investments. It is alleged that Kundra received 285 Bitcoins from Amit Bhardwaj, the scheme’s mastermind, meant for a Bitcoin mining operation in Ukraine, which never materialized.
This legal entanglement comes after Kundra’s 2021 arrest and subsequent bail concerning a separate case involving the production and distribution of pornographic content.