Mumbai: The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has summoned Gaurav Mehta for questioning in connection with the Gain bitcoin scam case probed by the agency, CBI sources said on Wednesday. The move from CBI has come a day after Gaurav Mehta's name surfaced following the revelations made by former Maharashtra IPS officer Ravindranath Patil.

According to Patil, Mehta, a resident of Raipur, was working for a consultancy firm who, as a forensic expert, assisted the Pune police in the Rs 6600 crore cryptocurrency scam in the year 2018. Former IPS officer Ravindranath Patil was arrested in a 2018 cryptocurrency "fraud" case being probed by the Pune Police.

In his complaint sent to the Election Commission via email, Patil said according to the chats he claims to possess, it appears that hundreds of Bitcoins worth billions of rupees may have been pumped in the assembly polls and the previous Lok Sabha elections.

In December last year, the Supreme Court had ordered transfer of over 40 FIRs related to the Bitcoin cryptocurrency scam to the CBI for further investigation and shifted the trial to a Delhi court. The FIRs Case involving Ajay Bhardwaj, late Amit Bhardwaj and others were lodged by several agencies, including the CBI besides the local police of Maharashtra, West Bengal, Delhi, Chandigarh, Punjab, Karnataka and Jammu and Kashmir.

The ED in December last year had arrested Simpy Bhardwaj aka Simpy Gaur in connection with the investigation in the case of M/s Variable Pte Ltd and ors colloquially called Gain Bitcoin Ponzi scheme under the provisions of the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

ED had initiated investigation on the basis of multiple FIRs registered by Maharashtra Police and Delhi Police against M/s Variable Tech Pte Ltd, Amit Bhardwaj, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and number of MLM agents, wherein it has been alleged that they had collected (approximately) Rs 6600 Crore in the form of Bitcoin from the public in the name of investment.

The ED investigation revealed that Simpy Bhardwaj along with her husband Ajay Bhardwaj and MLM agents played an active role in luring innocent investors by promising huge returns on the investment and cheated the public by way of committing fraud.

ED investigation also revealed that the proceeds of crime generated out of this scam were transferred to various overseas companies and were used for purchasing properties abroad and that Smt. Simpy Gaur was actively involved in generating, concealing and layering of the proceeds of crime.

Consequently, a search operation was conducted at the resident premises of Simpy Bhardwaj and Ajay Bhardwaj. During the course of search action three cars including Mercedes GLS350D & Audi Q3, incriminating documents and jewellery worth Rs. 18.91 lakh had been seized by the ED.