TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
TaxTMI 
2026 (3) TMI 153
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....,34 and 120-B of the IPC Act, 1860, Section 66(d) of I.T. Act, Section 3 of M.P.I.D Act, 1999 and Sections 4, 5 Prize Chits and Money Circulation Schemes (Banning), Act, 1978. The accused were said to be involved in generating 1318.738 bitcoins equivalent to Rs. 11,03,64,692/- and 184.177 bitcoins equivalent to Rs. 1,36,06,207/- total of which comes to 1502.905 Bitcoins equivalent to Rs. 12.40 crores. 3. The modus operandi adopted by the accused, Late Amit Bharadwaj, was to induce investors through agents of the company by falsely representing that by investing a single bitcoin with the company for a period of 18 months, they would be entitled to get 1.8 bitcoins. The website www.gainbitcoin.com was a web portal operated by M/s Variable Tech Pte. Ltd. Singapore for it. It was started somewhere in April or May, 2015 as a cloud minding service provider. On the advice from agents of M/s Variable Tech Pte. Ltd. and www.gainbitcoin.com, the investors placed their bitcoin on promise that they would earn 1.8 bitcoins within 18 months. 4. The www.gainbitcoin.com also offered earning by referrals to the new investors. It was a binary networking model and the investors opting for....
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....a Devi in her statement on 11.04.2002 revealed that the sources of fund for purchasing the land in Chhatarpur, Delhi and for construction on it had been provided by her son, Late Amit Bhardwaj after taking a loan of Rs. 20 lakhs from the bank for purchasing the said land for a consideration of Rs. 17.5 Lakhs. The loan repayment was made within four months of loan disbursement by Smt. Bimla Devi. The valuation report submitted by independent valuer valued the said plot of land measuring 1500 sq. yards for Rs. 4.5 Cr. Therefore, property was purchased at an undervalued rate. 10. Appellant. Smt. Anastasia Pivtsaeva, is the wife of Late Amit Bharadwaj and is recognized as the legal heir. 11. The Adjudicating Authority after reviewing the material in the OC, written replies and arguments presented by the defendants and the complainant concluded that the movable and immovable properties attached by PAO No. 05/2022 was qualified as proceeds of crime under Section 2(1)(u) of the Act of 2002 and accordingly confirmed the Provisional Attachment Order. Arguments of counsel for the appellants: 12. The learned counsel submitted that the appellants have not been named as an acc....
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.... the property or to be dealt with during the pendency of the trial is without any basis. The appellant is residing in the residential house purchased out of the loan amount and, therefore, causing notice for eviction is also not legal when no exceptional circumstances were disclosed. The prayer was accordingly made to cause interference in the impugned order. 17. The counsel for the appellants did not raise any other issue than referred to above. It is despite an opportunity to raise any legal or factual issue. However, learned counsel for the appellants shown his satisfaction to the issues raised by him and prayer was made for causing interference in the impugned order. Arguments of counsel for the respondents: 18. The learned counsel for the respondents vehemently contested the appeals. Elaborate arguments were made by the counsel on each issue raised by the counsel for the appellants. It would be considered and dealt with while recording the finding on each issue raised by the counsel for the appellants. It is to avoid repetition of the same facts and for the sake of brevity. Finding of the Tribunal: 19. We have considered the rival submissions of counsel for the ....
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....r, repayment of the loan made it clear that it was nothing but manipulation of the transaction and accordingly when the investigation revealed repayment out of the proceeds of crime, the Adjudicating Authority found provisional attachment of the property to be justified. 22. We may refer to the statements of Amit Bhardwaj and Smt. Bimla Devi in this regard and are quite relevant. Late Amit Bhardwaj made a statement under Section 50(2) of the Act of 2002 and admitted that he had invested AED 30 million for acquisition of properties in his own name and the name of his mother. The statement of Smt. Bimla Devi recorded on 11.04.2022 shows admission about purchase of the property out of the funds provided by his son. Analysis of the bank statement proved that though the loan was taken showing it to be for the purchase of the property under provisional attachment but repayment was unusually made within a span of four months. It is after putting cash in the bank account without disclosing the source. Smt. Bimla Devi in her statement admitted that she had no source of income and accordingly how the loan amount was repaid could not be disclosed, rather it was out of the proceeds of crime....
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....ed to the accused named in the criminal activity relating to a scheduled offence. It would apply to any person (not necessarily being accused in the scheduled offence), if he is involved in any process or activity connected with the proceeds of crime. Such a person besides facing the consequence of provisional attachment order, may end up in being named as accused in the complaint to be filed by the authorized officer concerning offence under Section 3 of the 2002 Act." In view of the finding of the Apex Court, it is not necessary that for provisional attachment of the properties, it should be in the hands of the accused. What is required is that the proceeds of crime should be in the hands of the person and in the instant case, the property in the hands of the appellant was out of the proceeds of crime thus rightly attached by the respondents. 25. The learned counsel for the appellants further submitted that Amit Bhardwaj has died and, therefore, the criminal proceedings have abated. We do not find any order to this effect on record so as to canvass the argument and, therefore, cannot be accepted. The counsel for the respondents at this stage submitted that the appellants ar....