SC grants bail to 2 accused in Bitcoin Ponzi scheme case - Times of India
Pune: The Supreme Court has granted conditional bail to Akash Kantilal Sancheti and Vyas Narhari Sapa, both accused in the multi-crore rupees Gain Bitcoin cryptocurrencies Ponzi scheme.In separate orders passed on September 27, the Supreme Court (SC) bench of Justice Rohinton Fali Nariman and Justice V Ramasubramanaian granted bail to Sancheti and Sapa against furnishing a personal release bond of Rs1 lakh each and a surety of the like amount. They should report to the police station concerned in Pune on every Monday, the bench said.Sapa’s lawyers Pratik Rajopadhye and Ashish Patankar told TOI, “We had filed a petition on the grounds that the trial against our client be stayed till the time the SC decides the larger question, raised in another pending petition, of whether dealing in cryptocurrencies is a crime or not.
On the other hand, Sapa stands accused of luring people for investing in Gain Bitcoin, for which the promised returns never came.In a related development, the Pune cyber police have moved a proposal to the special MPID court and the Pune collector for attachment of four properties belonging to some of the accused. “These include two land parcels of 3,189.63sqm and 1,997sqm belonging to Sancheti, a 92.9sqm flat at Aundh belonging to Sandhya Hemant Suryavanshi and others and a 58.34sqm flat at Dhayari belonging to Lata Hemant Bhope,” a cyber police officer associated with the probe told TOI.Lawyer Ameya Dange, who has represented the affected investors as intervenors in the high court and the SC, said, “Both the cases in Pune are at the stage of framing of charges after the cyber police filed the chargesheets last year.
