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 Modi, who faces federal elections in early 2019, ruled the state as chief minister for more than a decade before becoming prime minister in 2014 with the promise of stamping out corruption. Kotadiya posted a video via Whatsapp in April denying wrongdoing and saying he’d informed authorities about the crypto scam, said Prashant Dayal, a senior Gujarati journalist who broke the story. North Carolina followed five days later. “The government will have to find the absconders and bring them back. The fallout extends as far as Texas and has embroiled a former lawmaker, tarnishing Modi’s ruling party months before an election.

In the days following Modi’s demonetization Microfiber Bath Towels Manufacturers when Indians were given about 60 days to bank their higher-value banknotes or lose them — Google marked a surge in queries from the country on how to launder untaxed cash, or black money.Investigators across Gujarat and in the Indian capital of New Delhi say complaints about crypto frauds began pouring in after the U.They were wrong.S. He contacted his influential uncle, Kotadiya, and tapped the latter’s network in the local police to double-cross Bhatt and allegedly extort his bitcoin, according to allegations in police documents and interviews with investigators. He said he had nowhere else to go.It began in February, when property developer Shailesh Bhatt charged into the Home Minister’s office in Modi’s home state of Gujarat.

claiming he had been kidnapped by a group of policemen and told to pay 200 bitcoin, worth some $1. The interest they earned was higher if they recruited others to invest.On July 5, the opposition Congress Party held a press conference demanding the ruling BJP investigate the matter in Gujarat.In the video, reposted on Youtube, Kotadiya says Bhatt is responsible for the scam and threatens to release evidence that could implicate other politicians.  Cryptocurrency exchanges responded with a lawsuit that is due to resume hearings in the Supreme Court in September.The vast inflows from Indian investors were partly the result of Modi’s shock move in November 2016 to invalidate banknotes worth 15 trillion rupees in an effort to curb tax evasion, according to a chartered accountant in Gujarat.Paladiya’s lawyer Yogesh Ravani denied any wrongdoing by his client and said Paladiya was a victim of the kidnappers. 4, 2018, the state of Texas filed a cease-and-desist order against BitConnect.As the price of bitcoin soared last year from less than $1,000 to more than $19,700, so did BitConnect’s value.

Amid the ensuing market turmoil, the Reserve Bank of India announced measures that virtually banned crypto transactions. The abduction was allegedly spearheaded by Bhatt’s associate, Kirit Paladiya, and masterminded by Paladiya’s uncle Nalin Kotadiya, a former lawmaker in Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, according to Ashish Bhatia, the lead CID investigator. In a July 26 telephone interview, Rupareliya said Bhatt denies any wrongdoing and says that Paladiya handled all the bitcoin transfers as Bhatt wasn’t tech savvy.2 billion into Bitconnect, according to Bhatia. Please subscribehere.Surat, the heart of the scandal, is famed for its entrepreneurial merchants who travel the world to set up a “dhandha,” or family business.Kotadiya is no longer with the BJP and since the Gujarat government initiated the investigation, it shows the government is dealing with the matter, said GVL Narasimha Rao, a New Delhi-based BJP spokesman.8 million at the time, for his release.As a result of Modi’s 2016 demonetization, about 45 billion rupees  flowed to Gujarat’s port city of Surat, to be hidden away in assets including cryptocurrencies, said the accountant, who asked not to be identified because his clients include some of the city’s biggest diamond and textile traders.