Pune cyber police lifted the lid on Bitcoin scam worth crores of rupees after hard work of nine months
Pune : NpNews24 Online – Pune Cyber Crime | The recent arrests of cyber expert Pankaj Prakash Ghode and former IPS officer Ravindranath Prabhakar Patil hired by the Pune Cyber Police to investigate the Bitcoin scam have given rise to a question: who should the police trust?
Amit Bharadwaj and Vivek Kumar Bharadwaj had cheated around 450 citizens from cities across India, including Pune, in the Bitcoin scam. The first offence in the scam in the country was registered at the Dattawadi and Nigdi police stations. The brother-duo were arrested. Later, many cases were filed against them across the country. In all, 17 people were arrested in the scam.
The Addl DGP, EOW, Maharashtra suspected the role of Ghode and Patil while seizing the crypto-currency in the scam. He ordered a probe into the scam and the role of Ghode and Patil. DCP, EOW & Cyber Crime, Bhagyashree Navtake investigated this by taking the help of a private firm.
The police had handed over the technical data seized from the accused to Ghode and Patil. They were supposed to follow professionalism and honesty while investigating the scam. However, they took an undue advantage, presuming that the police did not understand any technicalities of the case and were totally dependent on them.
After launching the investigation, Ghode and Patil, along with the police, pieced together the Bitcoin dealings in the Blockchain. They found the link, using which the accused had transferred Bitcoins from one account to another. A police team was tirelessly working for the past nine months on the case. Later, Ghode and Patil transferred the crypto-currency belonging to the accused to their own accounts. It was revealed.
They transferred to their own accounts the Bitcoins seized from national and international crypto exchange wallets of the main accused and also from wallets belonging to their accomplices. Patil transferred around 45 such Bitcoins to his own and relatives’ accounts. (Currently, a Bitcoin costs around Rs 32 lakh. This means Patil bungled bitcoins amounting to Rs 14.40 crore.) Ghode and Patil, together, transferred bitcoins valued at Rs 20 crore.
Right from the beginning, Pankaj Ghode pretended to be helping the police. He made false screen shots of the wallets belonging to the accused. He tried to show these as genuine wallets to the police. He also showed less Bitcoins in their wallet, though they had more. He did not seize all Bitcoins from the accused persons’ wallet. Thus, he cheated the police. Later, it was proved that these Bitcoins were transferred to other wallets.
Many police officers in the state used to seek advice from cyber expert Ghode and former IPS officer Ravindra Patil. They trusted this duo. It has now been revealed that they cheated the police. Many new cyber offences are committed daily. The police are facing a new challenge while seeking help from cyber experts.
The cyber police team has been working under the guidance of CP Amitabh Gupta, Joint CP Dr Ravindra Shisve, Addl CP Ramnath Pokale, DCP Bhagyashree Navtake, ACP Vijaykumar Palsule, and Senior PI DS Hake. The team comprising PI Ankush Chintaman, PI Minal Supe Patil, police personnel Rajurkar, Khedkar, Koli, Bhosale, Bhapkar Nalawade, API Walke, PSI Nemane, Dafal, Padwal, 27 other staffers and officer-experts from the forensic lab including Tejas Katte, Tanuja Suryarao, Rahul Kanauj and Gaikwad, have worked very hard for over nine months and took the action.
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