Delhi Court Remands GainBitcoin Fraud Suspect Ayush Varshney Until March 30
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New Delhi, March 17 (NationPress) A Delhi court has ordered the judicial custody of Ayush Varshney, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Darwin Labs Private Limited, until March 30 as part of the ongoing investigation into the alleged multi-thousand-crore GainBitcoin cryptocurrency fraud. Varshney was brought before the Rouse Avenue Court after being arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is delving into a scam estimated to be approximately Rs 20,000 crore.
The inquiry focuses on an alleged Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Variabletech Pte Ltd, which lured investors with promises of exceptionally high returns on cryptocurrency investments but reportedly misappropriated the funds.
As per the CBI's report, Varshney was apprehended by immigration authorities at the Mumbai airport while trying to escape to Colombo, Sri Lanka.
He was detained based on a Look Out Circular issued against him and later handed over to the CBI, which officially arrested him and presented him in court.
This is the initial arrest linked to the GainBitcoin case, which dates back to its inception in 2015.
The scheme was allegedly led by Amit Bhardwaj (now deceased), along with his brother Ajay Bhardwaj and their network. The CBI assumed control of the investigation into several FIRs related to the GainBitcoin allegations following a Supreme Court order on December 13, 2023, directing the agency to be the primary investigative body.
Throughout the investigation, the roles of Darwin Labs and its co-founders, including Varshney, Sahil Baghla, and Nikunj Jain, have come under intense scrutiny.
Investigators have indicated that the company was responsible for developing and deploying the MCAP crypto token and its ERC-20 smart contract, providing the technological framework for the alleged fraud. This infrastructure reportedly included the Bitcoin mining platform GBMiners.com, a Bitcoin payment gateway, the Coin Bank wallet, and the GainBitcoin investor portal utilized by scheme participants.
The CBI has confirmed that the investigation is ongoing, with further arrests and developments anticipated as they continue to probe the network behind the suspected cryptocurrency fraud.