Two crypto experts of India were apprehended by the Pune Police’s Cyber Crime Cell, who allegedly drained wallets that were supposedly under investigation by the police.
According to local media sources, Pankaj Ghode and Ravindranath Patil, two alleged cyber-crime professionals, may have siphoned off substantial sums of cryptocurrency from a Bitcoin Ponzi scam that took place in 2018.
India’s crypto experts stole from the loot
Since last year, the two specialists, one of whom was a former Indian Police Service officer, have reportedly been supporting the Pune police’s Special Inquiry Team (SIT) in the investigation.
According to the report, the crew seized 241.46 bitcoins, 452 bitcoin cash, and 94 Ethereum. However, they are now suspected of moving millions of dollars in cryptocurrency from the accused’s wallets to personal accounts. According to the study, 237 bitcoins from the funds have been traced so far.
As part of their investigation into an alleged 900 bitcoin difference, the police have reportedly recovered approximately $770,000 in 34 different cryptocurrencies. The former officials, meanwhile, will be tried for a variety of violations and are currently in judicial custody. In addition, the alleged crypto specialists have been charged with a 4,400-page charge sheet.
India and its stance on crypto
The Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) recently provided an update on the condition of crypto regulation in India to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance.
“Because crypto assets are kept in decentralized distributed ledgers, which are nested in computer nodes all over the world,” the agency wrote, “there is a high risk of illicit exchanges not in accordance with any regulatory framework.”
In the past, SEBI has advised celebrities to avoid advocating crypto assets in order to protect investors.
The watchdog emphasized more controls this time, saying, “A digital currency operates as a bridge between the fiat currency of the foreign jurisdiction and the Indian rupee.”
“One goal of bringing crypto trading platforms under regulatory scrutiny could be to offer AML/CFT/KYC reporting; this can be accomplished by registering the companies as money changers, authorized dealers, or FX dealers,” according to the research.
Meanwhile, the central bank is waiting for the government to disclose its crypto consultation paper, which it has been critical of since its inception.