New Delhi, Feb 19 (PTI) The Enforcement Directorate Wednesday said it has attached assets worth more than Rs 10 crore, including commercial properties in prime business centres of Dubai, as part of a money laundering probe into an "illegal" Bitcoin investments fraud case.

The assets belong to late Amit Bhardwaj who was booked by the ED and the Maharashtra and Delhi Police as part of this investigation.

The federal probe agency had earlier attached assets worth Rs 172 crore in this case in which it has arrested three persons and filed two chargesheets in 2019 and 2024.

A provisional attachment order was issued on February 17 under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) for properties worth Rs 10.63 crore, including commercial properties situated in prime business centres of Dubai, UAE, the ED said in a statement.

Apart from late Amit Bhardwaj, the police FIRs also named Variable Tech Pvt Ltd, Ajay Bhardwaj, Vivek Bhardwaj, Simpy Bhardwaj, Mahender Bhardwaj and a number of multi-level marketing agents on charges that they collected huge amounts of Bitcoins from gullible people with the false promise of 10 per cent per month return in the form of the cryptocurrency, it said.

The ED claimed the collected cryptocurrencies were supposed to be utilised for Bitcoin mining and investors were supposed to get huge returns in crypto assets.

The promoters, however, cheated the investors and have been concealing the ill-gotten Bitcoins in "obscure" online wallets, the agency claimed.

Simpy Bhardwaj, Nitin Gaur and Nikhil Mahajan were arrested by the ED earlier.

"The main accused -- Ajay Bhardwaj and Mahendra Bhardwaj -- are still absconding. The ED has sought assistance from foreign countries since the money sourced out of the proceeds of crime has travelled abroad," the federal probe agency said. PTI NES NSD NSD

Asset attachment under PMLA targets Dubai commercial properties in alleged Bitcoin investment fraud, prompting cross border assistance requests. The federal probe agency used the Prevention of Money Laundering Act to provisionally attach commercial properties and assets in Dubai linked to the late Amit Bhardwaj and associated entities in connection with an alleged Bitcoin investment fraud. The investigation alleges investors were induced through a multi level marketing scheme with false promises of returns for Bitcoin mining, that proceeds were diverted into obscure online wallets, and that international assistance has been sought to trace and recover assets abroad.